The sun is at it’s most active at the moment, because the magnetic field is about to flip which it does every 11 years or so (amazing that it’s so quick!). Anyway, this gives rise to increased solar activity, and can mean increased likelihood of auroras. The earth was given a big blast of energy and there were incredible auroras seen all over the place. As luck would have it, we’d agreed to go to a pub quiz with friends just exactly when it was at it’s most active. I wish I’d just said “sorry, can’t go!”.. by the time I went to view it, you could only see anything with a long exposure.

Anyway, some pics and video’s from around the place. Video is from Ian Griffin who makes amazing astrophotography.

My own humble offering. It was still pretty cool to get the picture though. I’d very fortunately bought a second hand D3400 which was a massive step up on my old D60. I think I now know why I’ve had very very poor photos when trying to take night pics. The D60 iso goes up to 3200, and the D3400 is 25,600 which is a completely different beast for night pics.