The show started very early tonight – there was a bright band of aurora visible in the north when I did a check at 19:30 UTC. By the time I was on site from 19:45, a bright green band was present to the eye at around 45 degrees, with purple ray tops visible on the camera (Image 1). From 19:51 to 19:55, the band increased in strength becoming very vivid to the eye but without too much movement (Image 2). There was then a slight decrease in strength again (Image 3) before the auroral band began to build again from the north-east with a little more movement and structure (Image 4). From 20:02 to 20:18 the aurora was strong and a vivid green to the eye, and over this period it rose higher in the sky as it started to come southwards (Images 5 to 10). By 20:15 UTC a nice rayed band was present at about 75 degrees in the sky (Image 10).
After this time I went home for a period (as it was extremely cold outside in the wind), during which time my intermittent checks outside suggested strong overhead aurora at around 20:30 UTC with three well-defined bands visible at that time and a bright green to the eye. However, spatial movement was still rather limited and slow in nature.
We went back out from 20:45 to 21:00, but activity during this period was weak and it seemed that the earlier activity had mostly died off. Very faint streaks were visible overhead, while a green veil covered much of the northern half of the sky to around 70 degrees. The structure of the aurora at this time was difficult to describe, being mostly diffuse but with some better-defined taller streaks and patches visible (Images 11 and 12).
Image 1. 19:47 UTC. Taken at: ISO = 1600, f/2.8 @ 14 mm, exposure = 13 sec. Looking north-east.
Image 2. 19:52 UTC. Taken at: ISO = 1600, f/2.8 @ 14 mm, exposure = 14 sec. Looking north.
Image 3. 19:56 UTC. Taken at: ISO = 1600, f/2.8 @ 14 mm, exposure = 15 sec. Looking north.
Image 4. 20:01 UTC. Taken at: ISO = 1600, f/2.8 @ 14 mm, exposure = 16 sec. Looking north-east.
Image 5. 20:02 UTC. Taken at: ISO = 1600, f/2.8 @ 14 mm, exposure = 15 sec. Looking north-east.
Image 6. 20:04 UTC. Taken at: ISO = 1600, f/2.8 @ 14 mm, exposure = 15 sec. Looking north.
Image 7. 20:08 UTC. Taken at: ISO = 1600, f/2.8 @ 14 mm, exposure = 13 sec. Looking north.
Image 8. 20:12 UTC. Taken at: ISO = 1600, f/2.8 @ 14 mm, exposure = 11 sec. Looking north.
Image 9. 20:13 UTC. Taken at: ISO = 1600, f/2.8 @ 14 mm, exposure = 13 sec. Looking north.
Image 10. 20:15 UTC. Taken at: ISO = 1600, f/2.8 @ 14 mm, exposure = 15 sec. Looking east.
Image 11. 20:51 UTC. Taken at: ISO = 1600, f/2.8 @ 14 mm, exposure = 18 sec. Looking east.
Image 12. 20:55 UTC. Taken at: ISO = 1600, f/2.8 @ 14 mm, exposure = 17 sec. Looking east.
