With increasing solar activity, the latter part of 2023 is getting quite interesting for watchers of the night skies.
It's that time of year that the aurora borealis, or northern lights, puts in an appearance in the skies of the northern hemisphere, and the further north you are, the better your chances of catching a display.
Here in North Wales, at a latitude of 53?N, seeing the aurora is quite a rare event, and is normally not really visible to the naked eye, appearing as a light grey smudge above the horizon.
But using a DSLR camera, with high ISO and long exposure capabilites, the aurora takes on a much more vivid appearance, with bands of green and magenta light dancing across the skies.
Even so, you've got to be in the right place at the right time to catch any potential show, as the phenomena can appear and disappear over the space of a quarter of an hour or so.
So on this particular evening, with reasonably clear skies and the promise of enhanced solar activity after dark, my wife Liz and I headed to the North Wales coast at Prestatyn, with good views out over the Irish Sea to the north, and with the added bonus of the turbines of the offshore Gwynt-y-M?r wind farm dotted along the horizon.
And, for once, we were actually in the right place at the right time to catch just these few minutes of dramatic aurora, until the building clouds swept in and covered the sky over, bringing an end to the experience.
Even so, just a few moments of seeing such a wonderful display, played out on the back of my camera and in this time lapse video, was well worth the effort of being there in the cold and dark.
Filename - prestatyn aurora timelapse 01
Camera - Canon EOS 6DMK2
Lens - 24-105mm zoom @ 24mm
Exposure (start of sequence) - 15 secs @ f/4, ISO1600
Exposure (end of sequence) - 15 secs @ f/4, ISO1600
Filters - None.
Music - Impending Boom - Kevin MacLeod
Shooting interval - 15 seconds
Location - Barkby Beach, Prestatyn, North Wales
This clip - HD 720p, 30fps (4K and HD formats also available)
Clip duration - 9 seconds
All content copyright © Howard Litherland 2009-2023 unless otherwise stated.