Big aurora tonight and Saturday?

yuppers...just need to wait for it to get dark. Sun just came off the mountains at 9:15. Won't be dark for a while yet.

From a favourite forecast site:
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/ovation/North_New.html

This image will update automatically to show the most up-to-date forecast from the Ovation website:

Yep it is at a five right now Aurora

See anything Sue? I was just outside, lovely night, Mars & Jupiter nice, bright and non twinkling, with the almost full Moon almost half way between them, but alas no aurora!
I do remember eleven years ago, or was it twenty two? seeing an overhead coronal aurora like the one on the GI site, and this was from right here in Brentwood Bay! Ah the 'good ol' days'!

Nothing yet. It is still too bright -- clear sky, bright moon, and a bit of light on the north horizon from the setting sun at 11:20 p.m.

Yup, the sun is setting to the north already.

Note to self, put on boots (not your slippers) and warmer gloves when outside photographing aurora at -5C (23F). Stay tuned...need to warm my fingers a bit to work the keyboard!

The bright moon was to the right in this image, thus that side is brighter...

Wow!! Judging by how sharp the stars are in the background, I am guessing that this exposure was at 10 seconds or so -- and judging by the lack of electronic noise, I am guessing an ISO of less than 1600 -- maybe 800? And the trees in the foreground are in perfect focus, so an f stop of at least 4?

How do you get these amazing shots? And isn't that Cassiopeia in the top right, behind the top of the aurora?

Some more from last night, just after midnight

profdant139 wrote:
Wow!! Judging by how sharp the stars are in the background, I am guessing that this exposure was at 10 seconds or so -- and judging by the lack of electronic noise, I am guessing an ISO of less than 1600 -- maybe 800? And the trees in the foreground are in perfect focus, so an f stop of at least 4?

How do you get these amazing shots? And isn't that Cassiopeia in the top right, behind the top of the aurora?

With my Canon 7D with the 10-22mm wide angle lens on it, I prefer:

6 or 8 second exposure, to keep the stars sharp. More time than that and their movement blurs the crispness too much for my liking. Last night was a 6 second night because the moon was so bright.

Last night I was shooting at ISO 1250. On a dark night, might bump that to 1600. Any higher there is too much "noise" for my liking but on really dark nights I might take it to 2000.

f/3.5 - completely open. Different lenses might not have the same aperture ability.

Good hardy tripod that can pivot the camera in every direction and that functions well at -40 even. Then 2-second delay on the shutter, so there is no shake. I have a remote shutter but don't use it as it is fussy in the cold.

Nice! Thanks.