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Boundary Waters Quetico Forum Listening Point - General Discussion Aurora sightings |
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09/19/2023 08:16AM
The Aurora forecast is promising this week. I think Kp of 6 is likely for 9/18-9/19. Has anyone seen nice displays lately? Seeing the northern lights is a bucket list item for me. The lights are visible here in northern Missouri occasionally but I haven't seen them yet.
09/20/2023 02:47PM
Samsquatch: "I'm envious of you all.
Apparently the Aurora was visible in a limtited area of my state but was not obvious, more like a tint to clouds. Recent Aurora activity is fueling my desire to see BWCA in the winter."
I'm also a professional photographer and musher. In my experience capturing the aurora is the same in summer as it is in winter although science says winter in the Northern Hemisphere is more likely because of the tilt of the planet. Winter is also significantly cloudier in MN at 50% of the days under cloud cover.
Tone Coughlin Photography LLC
09/20/2023 02:56PM
Monday night had a pretty glorious display. The lights were not very colorful though they were very active. It was almost as if the cosmic breeze could be seen blowing across the sky in quivering clouds.
"Watch money. Money is the barometer of society's virtue...Whenever destroyers appear among men, they start by destroying money." -Francisco D'Anconia
09/20/2023 02:56PM
Hey Tuscarora Borealis, have you had any Aurora sightings? :)
"Keep close to Nature's heart, yourself; and break clear away, once in a while, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean." ~ John Muir
09/21/2023 08:39AM
deerfoot: "tonecoughlin: "I caught this one at 12:30 am this morning.
"
Very nice, you were lucky to see this."
Well the camera "saw" this. What shows up in long digital exposure is not gifted to the human eye.
Nobody exists on purpose, nobody belongs anywhere, everybody’s going to die.
09/21/2023 10:38AM
Banksiana: "deerfoot: "tonecoughlin: "I caught this one at 12:30 am this morning.
"
Very nice, you were lucky to see this."
Well the camera "saw" this. What shows up in long digital exposure is not gifted to the human eye."
Great pic no matter what way you slice it, and great lights too man!
Joe
aka HermitThrush "Such sights as this are reserved for those who will suffer to behold them." -Eric Sevareid
09/21/2023 04:41PM
We base camped Sun-Wed 9/17-9/20 on Canoe Lake - between Alder and Pine. Fortunately, we had the 4-star westernmost site. Unfortunately, the site faces ESE. And, it always seemed to be a bit overcast in the north and west. And, it was so flippin' cold on Monday night, with the wind coming directly in at us, we retired to the tent around 9:00. Before doing that, however, we did manage to see quite a bright glow in the north behind us, but no colors or pillars.
"You can observe a lot just by watching." -- Yogi Berra
09/22/2023 09:30PM
SaganagaJoe: "Banksiana: "deerfoot: "tonecoughlin: "I caught this one at 12:30 am this morning.
"
Very nice, you were lucky to see this."
Well the camera "saw" this. What shows up in long digital exposure is not gifted to the human eye."
Great pic no matter what way you slice it, and great lights too man!
Joe"
Agreed!
09/23/2023 08:23AM
Banksiana: "My point is that these glorious aurora photos are artifacts of camera sensor technology- these images don't exist for the naked eye."
We can't post pictures with our eyes so we have to use cameras. They've been around since the 1800's.
Just like you used the Internet and a computer to make a comment.
Tone Coughlin Photography LLC
09/24/2023 06:32AM
tonecoughlin: "Banksiana: "My point is that these glorious aurora photos are artifacts of camera sensor technology- these images don't exist for the naked eye."
We can't post pictures with our eyes so we have to use cameras. They've been around since the 1800's.
Just like you used the Internet and a computer to make a comment."
No doubt. Not objecting to the use of cameras but its important to point out that you can't sit on a rock and see these glorious aurora colors. Someone said "You were lucky to see this"- you didn't.
Nobody exists on purpose, nobody belongs anywhere, everybody’s going to die.
09/24/2023 06:40AM
Banksiana: "tonecoughlin: "Banksiana: "My point is that these glorious aurora photos are artifacts of camera sensor technology- these images don't exist for the naked eye."
We can't post pictures with our eyes so we have to use cameras. They've been around since the 1800's.
Just like you used the Internet and a computer to make a comment."
No doubt. Not objecting to the use of cameras but its important to point out that you can't sit on a rock and see these glorious aurora colors. Someone said "You were lucky to see this"- you didn't."
Of course you can, and I did! Didn't see you there.
Tone Coughlin Photography LLC
09/25/2023 09:43AM
On the night you took the photo I was up until almost 1:00 am, on my deck, watching the aurora, dark sky, 12 miles NW of Ely. The lights were great! They weren't purple and green until they landed on your computer monitor.
I've lived outside of Ely since the mid-eighties. For ten years I spent half my nights well north of the Arctic circle. I've witnessed many great displays of northern lights. What the sensor "sees" and what the eye witnesses are radically different. Many people believe that they can witness what your sensor captures with their eyes if they were just in the right place at the right time- simply not the case; ridiculously obtuse to pretend that it is.
I've lived outside of Ely since the mid-eighties. For ten years I spent half my nights well north of the Arctic circle. I've witnessed many great displays of northern lights. What the sensor "sees" and what the eye witnesses are radically different. Many people believe that they can witness what your sensor captures with their eyes if they were just in the right place at the right time- simply not the case; ridiculously obtuse to pretend that it is.
Nobody exists on purpose, nobody belongs anywhere, everybody’s going to die.
09/25/2023 11:03AM
Banksiana,
What gives?
The NL really are what the camera sees. If you use film you are getting an anlog picture of what is really there. I used to shoot on film and captured amazing full color-spectrum aurora on it.
Same with all of the other colors of the spectrum. Just because you can’t see it with your eye doesn’t mean it’s not there.
Tom
What gives?
The NL really are what the camera sees. If you use film you are getting an anlog picture of what is really there. I used to shoot on film and captured amazing full color-spectrum aurora on it.
Same with all of the other colors of the spectrum. Just because you can’t see it with your eye doesn’t mean it’s not there.
Tom
09/25/2023 11:21AM
tumblehome: "Banksiana,
What gives?
The NL really are what the camera sees. If you use film you are getting an anlog picture of what is really there. I used to shoot on film and captured amazing full color-spectrum aurora on it.
Same with all of the other colors of the spectrum. Just because you can’t see it with your eye doesn’t mean it’s not there.
Tom"
No kidding, crabby granny ??
Capturing the Aurora is pretty simple. Much easier than distant galaxies, nebula, etc. Even on the microscopc level, germs, viruses, cells, etc.
Tone Coughlin Photography LLC
09/25/2023 01:49PM
This really went off the deep end quickly.
Your eyes cannot perceive colors with the same saturation as a camera sensor, especially in the case of long exposures. You will never, ever see green and purple like in Tone's photo, with your own eyes. Not even close. That is what is being said here. No one is debating that the camera can't see it... it clearly can, based on Tone's photo.
You might see some green during strong aurora, but our eyes are very insensitive to short wavelengths like purple, and those wavelengths are also the most scattered which is why sunlight appears more red as the sun gets low on the horizon - because the white light is scattered and the only wavelengths left for us to see are the long ones like red and orange. Cameras get an advantage here as well, but when viewing/photographing aurora at 10-30 degrees of altitude, there is a fair amount of scatter involved, and you'd be very lucky to see any purple with your own eyes.
Sure, Tone didn't actually _see_ what his camera captured, but it was just an expression - "you were lucky to see that!" - what should they have said instead? "Your camera was lucky to see that"? Even if what is seen with the eye is less impressive, surely it's more impressive than clouds or light pollution completely masking any aurora at all, no? Consider that many didn't get to witness any aurora at all, so the "lucky to see that" statement was in good faith. I don't know why an argument needed to start over it.
Your eyes cannot perceive colors with the same saturation as a camera sensor, especially in the case of long exposures. You will never, ever see green and purple like in Tone's photo, with your own eyes. Not even close. That is what is being said here. No one is debating that the camera can't see it... it clearly can, based on Tone's photo.
You might see some green during strong aurora, but our eyes are very insensitive to short wavelengths like purple, and those wavelengths are also the most scattered which is why sunlight appears more red as the sun gets low on the horizon - because the white light is scattered and the only wavelengths left for us to see are the long ones like red and orange. Cameras get an advantage here as well, but when viewing/photographing aurora at 10-30 degrees of altitude, there is a fair amount of scatter involved, and you'd be very lucky to see any purple with your own eyes.
Sure, Tone didn't actually _see_ what his camera captured, but it was just an expression - "you were lucky to see that!" - what should they have said instead? "Your camera was lucky to see that"? Even if what is seen with the eye is less impressive, surely it's more impressive than clouds or light pollution completely masking any aurora at all, no? Consider that many didn't get to witness any aurora at all, so the "lucky to see that" statement was in good faith. I don't know why an argument needed to start over it.
09/25/2023 07:22PM
schweady: "Are we going to argue that we can't absolutely love THIS Aurora simply because it's only a camera-captured image? I think not. She is adorable, Frenchy!"
Thanks, Schweady!
"The future ain't what it used to be" Yogi Berra
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