There was a good display this evening with miraculously clear skies! The aurora was visible immediately after it became dark, with a faint band visible in the northern sky from 18:05 UTC. However, the main event did not begin until after 21:00. There was a very bright moon this evening which lit up the landscape and made it tricky to take images in an easterly direction, so most of my photographs from this night are facing west.
From 21:36 until 22:01 UTC the aurora was strong with a series of vivid green bands running across the sky from east to north-west (Images 1 to 3) which developed into a beautiful swirl pattern in the western sky between 21:54 and 21:57 (Images 4 to 6). Following the swirl, activity reduced to moderate for a period but the green swathe of aurora was still very visible and some bands even passed to the south of my location for periods. Although the full moon limited views to the east, the aurora could still be seen extending all the way to the eastern horizon (Image 7). A second stronger burst of activity occurred from 22:26, with some movement and flickering of rays (Image 8).
At 22:36 the activity again began to increase, with the north-west end of the band becoming brighter and starting to move (Image 9). This quickly developed into two minutes of intense activity with several ribbons of aurora dancing across the sky and pink lower fringes visible to the eye along their lower edges (Images 10 to 12). As is often the case after these intense bursts, the aurora subsequently expanded in extent to cover a wide area of sky and simultaneously decreased in energy. The multiple strands could be seen clearly against the bright moon in the eastern sky (Image 13).
This marked the end of the most active periods for the evening, although from 22:55 UTC a nice bright band of aurora developed low in the northern sky and then grew in strength to dance brightly above the Esja mountains for several minutes (Images 14 to 16). Following that, activity was predominantly weak for the remainder of the time that I was outside (until 23:45 UTC).
Image 1. 21:36 UTC. Taken at: ISO = 1600, f/2.8 @ 14 mm, exposure = 8 sec. Looking north-west.
Image 2. 21:44 UTC. Taken at: ISO = 1600, f/2.8 @ 14 mm, exposure = 7 sec. Looking north-east.
Image 3. 21:52 UTC. Taken at: ISO = 1600, f/2.8 @ 14 mm, exposure = 5 sec. Looking west/north-west.
Image 4. 21:54 UTC. Taken at: ISO = 1600, f/2.8 @ 14 mm, exposure = 7.7 sec. Looking west/north-west.
Image 5. 21:56 UTC. Taken at: ISO = 1600, f/2.8 @ 14 mm, exposure = 7.3 sec. Looking west/north-west.
Image 6. 21:57 UTC. Taken at: ISO = 1600, f/2.8 @ 14 mm, exposure = 8 sec. Looking west/north-west.
Image 7. 22:21 UTC. Taken at: ISO = 1600, f/2.8 @ 14 mm, exposure = 2.4 sec. Looking east.
Image 8. 22:27 UTC. Taken at: ISO = 1600, f/2.8 @ 14 mm, exposure = 6 sec. Looking south-west.
Image 9. 22:36 UTC. Taken at: ISO = 1600, f/2.8 @ 14 mm, exposure = 5.3 sec. Looking west/north-west.
Image 10. 22:37 UTC. Taken at: ISO = 1600, f/2.8 @ 14 mm, exposure = 3 sec. Looking west/north-west.
Image 11. 22:37 UTC. Taken at: ISO = 1600, f/2.8 @ 14 mm, exposure = 2.5 sec. Looking west/north-west.
Image 12. 22:37 UTC. Taken at: ISO = 1600, f/2.8 @ 14 mm, exposure = 2.5 sec. Looking west/north-west.
Image 13. 22:40 UTC. Taken at: ISO = 1600, f/2.8 @ 14 mm, exposure = 2.7 sec. Looking east.
Image 14. 22:59 UTC. Taken at: ISO = 1600, f/2.8 @ 14 mm, exposure = 8.3 sec. Looking north.
Image 15. 23:00 UTC. Taken at: ISO = 1600, f/2.8 @ 14 mm, exposure = 6.9 sec. Looking north.
Image 16. 23:01 UTC. Taken at: ISO = 1600, f/2.8 @ 14 mm, exposure = 4.4 sec. Looking north.
