Home

 

Searching all stock for "shepherding":

Aurora over Scotland (60 files)

Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights displays photographed taken over Aberdeeshire in Scotland since 1989 covering some 350 events with arc, rays, coronas with a wide rnage of shapes and colours
Aurora The Neuk au7133ajhp 
 Scottish Aurora Lights Deeside Aberdeenshire thin rays winter January 1990 on 23rd and first of the new decade taken on the Harestone Road to the west of Banchory at a small inset into a field by The Neuk farm. I cleared it with the farmer that I could park there and it gave me a clear view to the Hill of Fare to the North of Banchory. This photo is one of the first of 1990 which proved to be an extremely productive decade for Aurora displays and photography. I took this photo of the Aurora display using the Fuji RSP 11 35mm slide film rated by Fuji at 1600asa and exposed around the 20 seconds I later settled on. As there was moonlight then there is some additional overexposure element along with less saturation in the colours.

The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about my first display of the 23 September.

The large dark feature to the bottom right is a hay bale. This second selection of three photos were taken after 23.00 as in this case with this arc starting a second period of activity which finished around 23.30UT and this was gthe last photo i took that evening. This location and the nearby layby at The Ley farm entrance with it’s beautiful tree, became my usual choices for most of the Aurora displays I photographed when living in Banchory throughout the early 90’s, easily accessible from Banchory and with a clear light pollution free view to the North which meant that any clear night were spent watching the Northern skies for the tell-tale signs of a possible display, usually proceeded by an area of obvious brightness on the evening before the main display. It also gave easy access to Crathes Castle which featured a couple of times as different foreground to Aurora displays. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Banchory, Crathes, Harestone, road, Neuk, farm, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1990, January, 23rd, slide, film, Fuji, RSP11, 1600asa, 35mm, time, exposure, Nikon, FM2, wide, angle, lens, 28mm, f2.8, scanned, scan, captured
Aurora The Neuk au7132ajhp 
 Scotland Aurora Crathes Aberdeenshire thin rays winter January 23rd 1990 taken on the Harestone Road to the west of Banchory at a small inset into a field by The Neuk farm. I cleared it with the farmer that I could park there and it gave me a clear view to the Hill of Fare to the North of Banchory. This photo is one of the first of 1990 which proved to be an extremely productive decade for Aurora displays and photography. I took this photo of the Aurora display using the Fuji RSP 11 35mm slide film rated by Fuji at 1600asa and exposed around the 20 seconds I later settled on. As there was moonlight then there is some additional overexposure element along with less saturation in the colours.

The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about my first display of the 23 September.

The large dark feature to the bottom right is a hay bale. This second selection of three photos were taken after 23.00 as in this case with this arc starting a second period of activity which finished around 23.30UT. This location and the nearby layby at The Ley farm entrance with it’s beautiful tree, became my usual choices for most of the Aurora displays I photographed when living in Banchory throughout the early 90’s, easily accessible from Banchory and with a clear light pollution free view to the North which meant that any clear night were spent watching the Northern skies for the tell-tale signs of a possible display, usually proceeded by an area of obvious brightness on the evening before the main display. It also gave easy access to Crathes Castle which featured a couple of times as different foreground to Aurora displays. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Banchory, Crathes, Harestone, road, Neuk, farm, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1990, January, 23rd, slide, film, Fuji, RSP11, 1600asa, 35mm, time, exposure, Nikon, FM2, wide, angle, lens, 28mm, f2.8, scanned, scan, captured
Aurora The Neuk au7129ajhp 
 Scotland Northern Lights display Neuk Crathes Deeside rays winter January 23rd 1990 taken on the Harestone Road to the west of Banchory at a small inset into a field by The Neuk farm. I cleared it with the farmer that I could park there and it gave me a clear view to the Hill of Fare to the North of Banchory. This photo is one of the first of 1990 which proved to be an extremely productive decade for Aurora displays and photography. I took this photo of the Aurora display using the Fuji RSP 11 35mm slide film rated by Fuji at 1600asa and exposed around the 20 seconds I later settled on. As there was moonlight then there is some additional overexposure element along with less saturation in the colours.

The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about my first display of the 23 September.

The large dark feature to the bottom right is a hay bale. This second selection of three photos were taken after 23.00 as in this case with this arc starting a second period of activity which finished around 23.30UT. This location and the nearby layby at The Ley farm entrance with it’s beautiful tree, became my usual choices for most of the Aurora displays I photographed when living in Banchory throughout the early 90’s, easily accessible from Banchory and with a clear light pollution free view to the North which meant that any clear night were spent watching the Northern skies for the tell-tale signs of a possible display, usually proceeded by an area of obvious brightness on the evening before the main display. It also gave easy access to Crathes Castle which featured a couple of times as different foreground to Aurora displays. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Banchory, Crathes, Harestone, road, Neuk, farm, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1990, January, 23rd, slide, film, Fuji, RSP11, 1600asa, 35mm, time, exposure, Nikon, FM2, wide, angle, lens, 28mm, f2.8, scanned, scan, captured
Aurora The Neuk au7124ajhp 
 Scotland Northern Lights display Neuk Crathes Deeside rays winter January 23rd 1990 taken on the Harestone Road to the west of Banchory at a small inset into a field by The Neuk farm. I cleared it with the farmer that I could park there and it gave me a clear view to the Hill of Fare to the North of Banchory. This photo is one of the first of 1990 which proved to be an extremely productive decade for Aurora displays and photography. I took this photo of the Aurora display using the Fuji RSP 11 35mm slide film rated by Fuji at 1600asa and exposed around the 20 seconds I later settled on. As there was moonlight then there is some additional overexposure element along with less saturation in the colours.

The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about my first display of the 23 September.

The large dark feature to the bottom right is a hay bale. The first selection of photos was taken after 22.30 as in this case, the later ones after a second period of activity nearer 23.30UT. This location and the nearby layby at The Ley farm entrance with it’s beautiful tree, became my usual choices for most of the Aurora displays I photographed when living in Banchory throughout the early 90’s, easily accessible from Banchory and with a clear light pollution free view to the North which meant that any clear night were spent watching the Northern skies for the tell-tale signs of a possible display, usually proceeded by an area of obvious brightness on the evening before the main display. It also gave easy access to Crathes Castle which featured a couple of times as different foreground to Aurora displays. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Banchory, Crathes, Harestone, road, Neuk, farm, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1990, January, 23rd, slide, film, Fuji, RSP11, 1600asa, 35mm, time, exposure, Nikon, FM2, wide, angle, lens, 28mm, f2.8, scanned, scan, captured
Aurora The Neuk au7117ajhp 
 Scottish January 1990 Aurora Borealis display Neuk Crathes Banchory ray winter 23rd taken on the Harestone Road to the west of Banchory at a small inset into a field by The Neuk farm. I cleared it with the farmer that I could park there and it gave me a clear view to the Hill of Fare to the North of Banchory. This photo is one of the first of 1990 which proved to be an extremely productive decade for Aurora displays and photography. I took this photo of the Aurora display using the Fuji RSP 11 35mm slide film rated by Fuji at 1600asa and exposed around the 20 seconds I later settled on. As there was moonlight then there is some additional overexposure element along with less saturation in the colours.

The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about my first display of the 23 September.

The large dark feature to the bottom right is a hay bale. The first selection of photos was taken after 22.30 as in this case, the later ones after a second period of activity nearer 23.30UT. This location and the nearby layby at The Ley farm entrance with it’s beautiful tree, became my usual choices for most of the Aurora displays I photographed when living in Banchory throughout the early 90’s, easily accessible from Banchory and with a clear light pollution free view to the North which meant that any clear night were spent watching the Northern skies for the tell-tale signs of a possible display, usually proceeded by an area of obvious brightness on the evening before the main display. It also gave easy access to Crathes Castle which featured a couple of times as different foreground to Aurora displays. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Banchory, Crathes, Harestone, road, Neuk, farm, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, upright, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1990, January, 23rd, slide, film, Fuji, RSP11, 1600asa, 35mm, time, exposure, Nikon, FM2, wide, angle, lens, 28mm, f2.8, scanned, scan, captured
Aurora The Neuk au718ajhp 
 Scotland Aurora Borealis display Neuk Crathes strong red rays Plough winter December 27th 1989 taken on the Harestone Road to the west of Banchory at a small inset into a field by The Neuk farm. I cleared it with the farmer that I could park there and it gave me a clear view to the Hill of Fare to the North of Banchory. This photo is one of the early ones, I think the fifth display, I took of an Aurora display using the Fuji RSP 11 35mm slide film rated by Fuji at 1600asa and exposed around the 20 seconds I later settled on. The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about my first display of the 23 September and probably about the one captured here. The large dark feature to the bottom right is a hay bale. I have no record of the time of this display but probably before mid-night and I only took 8 frames. This location and the nearby layby at The Ley farm entrance with it’s beautiful tree, became my usual choices for most of the Aurora displays I photographed when living in Banchory throughout the early 90’s, easily accessible from Banchory and with a clear light pollution free view to the North. It also gave easy access to Crathes Castle which featured a couple of times as different foreground to Aurora displays. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Banchory, Crathes, Harestone, road, Neuk, farm, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, upright, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1989, December, 27th, slide, film, Fuji, RSP11, 1600asa, 35mm, time, exposure, Nikon, FM2, wide, angle, lens, 28mm, f2.8, scanned, scan, captured
Aurora The Neuk au712ajhp 
 Scottish Aurora Borealis Neuk Deeside Ursa Major stars Banchory rays red winter December 27th 1989 taken on the Harestone Road to the west of Banchory at a small inset into a field by The Neuk farm. I cleared it with the farmer that I could park there and it gave me a clear view to the Hill of Fare to the North of Banchory. This photo is one of the early ones, I think the fifth display, I took of an Aurora display using the Fuji RSP 11 35mm slide film rated by Fuji at 1600asa and exposed around the 20 seconds I later settled on. The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about my first display of the 23 September and probably about the one captured here. The large dark feature to the bottom right is a hay bale. I have no record of the time of this display but probably before mid-night and I only took 8 frames. This location and the nearby layby at The Ley farm entrance with it’s beautiful tree, became my usual choices for most of the Aurora displays I photographed when living in Banchory throughout the early 90’s, easily accessible from Banchory and with a clear light pollution free view to the North. It also gave easy access to Crathes Castle which featured a couple of times as different foreground to Aurora displays. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Banchory, Crathes, Harestone, road, Neuk, farm, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1989, December, 27th, slide, film, Fuji, RSP11, 1600asa, 35mm, time, exposure, Nikon, FM2, wide, angle, lens, 28mm, f2.8, scanned, scan, captured
Aurora The Neuk au711ajhp 
 Scottish Aurora Borealis beginning arc rays Plough Ursa Major stars rays red winter December 27th 1989 taken on the Harestone Road to the west of Banchory at a small inset into a field by The Neuk farm. I cleared it with the farmer that I could park there and it gave me a clear view to the Hill of Fare to the North of Banchory. This photo is one of the early ones, I think the fifth display, I took of an Aurora display using the Fuji RSP 11 35mm slide film rated by Fuji at 1600asa and exposed around the 20 seconds I later settled on. The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about my first display of the 23 September and probably about the one captured here. The large dark feature to the bottom right is a hay bale. I have no record of the time of this display but probably before mid-night and I only took 8 frames. This location and the nearby layby at The Ley farm entrance with it’s beautiful tree, became my usual choices for most of the Aurora displays I photographed when living in Banchory throughout the early 90’s, easily accessible from Banchory and with a clear light pollution free view to the North. It also gave easy access to Crathes Castle which featured a couple of times as different foreground to Aurora displays. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Banchory, Crathes, Harestone, road, Neuk, farm, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1989, December, 27th, slide, film, Fuji, RSP11, 1600asa, 35mm, time, exposure, Nikon, FM2, wide, angle, lens, 28mm, f2.8, scanned, scan, captured
Aurora Cairn O Mount au61714jhp 
 Scottish Northern Lights Cairn O’Mount rays red winter clouds December 22nd 1989 taken on the north face of the Cairn O’Mount and which looks across to Clachnaben, the notable hill with a tor rocky outcrop which makes it visible from much of Deeside when looking south. This photo is one of the early ones, I think the fourth display, I took of an Aurora display using the Fuji RSP 11 35mm slide film rated by Fuji at 1600asa and possibly exposed slightly shorter than the 20 seconds I later settled on and hence slightly stronger grain effect but actually far more accurate in terms of the human eye perception of a display. The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about my first display of the 23 September and probably about the one captured here. The large dark post is one of the snow poles that line the side of the Cairn road but it must have been a short lived event as I only took four exposures. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Glen, Dye, Cairn, O’Mount, road, Clachnaben, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1989, December, 22nd, slide, film, Fuji, RSP11, 1600asa, 35mm, time, exposure, Nikon, FM2, wide, angle, lens, 28mm, f2.8, scanned, scan, captured
Aurora Cairn O Mount au61713jhp 
 Scotland Aurora Borealis display Cairn O’Mount rays red winter December 22nd 1989 taken on the north face of the Cairn O’Mount and which looks across to Clachnaben, the notable hill with a tor rocky outcrop which makes it visible from much of Deeside when looking south. This photo is one of the early ones, I think the fourth display, I took of an Aurora display using the Fuji RSP 11 35mm slide film rated by Fuji at 1600asa and possibly exposed shorter than the 20 seconds I later settled on and hence the darker and slightly stronger grain effect but actually far more accurate in terms of the human eye perception of a display. The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about my first display of the 23 September and probably about the one captured here. The large dark post is one of the snow poles that line the side of the Cairn road but it must have been a short lived event as I only took four exposures. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Glen, Dye, Cairn, O’Mount, road, Clachnaben, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1989, December, 22nd, slide, film, Fuji, RSP11, 1600asa, 35mm, time, exposure, Nikon, FM2, wide, angle, lens, 28mm, f2.8, scanned, scan, captured
Aurora Glen Dye au61041jhp 
 Scotland Aurora Borealis underexposed grainy rays red 645 medium format autumn 27th September 1989 taken from Heatheryhaugh just above steep climb out of Glen Dye on the road to the Cairn O’Mount and which looks across to Clachnaben, the notable hill with a tor rocky outcrop which makes it visible from much of Deeside when looking south. This photo is one of the first I took of an Aurora display using the Fuji RHP 400asa 6.4.5cm format film and it became visible just after midnight when clouds cleared and made the stars and night sky visible although the large brown patches are moving cloud. The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about the display captured here.

I photographed using Fuji RHP 400asa medium format transparency film of which this photo is an underexposed example while bracketing exposures near the 20 second mark based on my experiences with photographing the Comet and aware that exposures much longer than 20 seconds incurred the affect of star trail so instead of sharp dots for stars they became lines. In this case I used the 40mm f4 Zenzanon on my Bronica ETRS. Push processing the 400asa slide film at the lab by two stops to the equivalent of 1600asa I found that an exposure around 20 second eventually gave the best results for best colour saturation and exposure and giving the maximum control of grain without it appearing washed out from underexposure as in this case. As I shot my general landscape work using Fuji film, usually Velvia or RAP, I stayed with it for the Aurora although Kodak film was acceptable in quality and results. I felt that the Fuji film handled the reds and greens better anyway and these are in practice the primary colours of Aurora displays when oxygen is excited by the incoming electrons. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Glen, Dye, Cairn, O’Mount, road, Heatheryhaugh, Clachnaben, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1989, September, slide, transparency, film, Fuji, RHP, 400asa, pushed, development, 1600asa, 645mm, time, exposure, Bronica, ETRS, wide, angle, lens, Zenzanon, 40mm, f4, scanned, scan, earliest, first, captured
Aurora Glen Dye au610415jhp 
 Scottish Aurora display Glen Dye rays red 645 medium format autumn 27th September 1989 taken from Heatheryhaugh just above steep climb out of Glen Dye on the road to the Cairn O’Mount and which looks across to Clachnaben, the notable hill with a tor rocky outcrop which makes it visible from much of Deeside when looking south. This photo is one of the first I took of an Aurora display using the Fuji RHP 400asa 6.4.5cm format film and it became visible just after midnight when clouds cleared and made the stars and night sky visible although the large brown patches are moving cloud. The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about the display captured here.

I photographed using Fuji RHP 400asa medium format transparency film of which this photo is an example with an exposure near the 20 second mark based on my experiences with photographing the Comet and aware that exposures much longer than 20 seconds incurred the affect of star trail so instead of sharp dots for stars they became lines. In this case I used the 40mm f4 Zenzanon on my Bronica ETRS. Push processing the 400asa slide film at the lab by two stops to the equivalent of 1600asa I found that an exposure around 20 second eventually gave the best results for best colour saturation and exposure and giving the maximum control of grain as in this case. As I shot my general landscape work using Fuji film, usually Velvia or RAP, I stayed with it for the Aurora although Kodak film was acceptable in quality and results. I felt that the Fuji film handled the reds and greens better anyway and these are in practice the primary colours of Aurora displays when oxygen is excited by the incoming electrons. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Glen, Dye, Cairn, O’Mount, road, Heatheryhaugh, Clachnaben, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, upright, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1989, September, slide, transparency, film, Fuji, RHP, 400asa, pushed, development, 1600asa, 645mm, time, exposure, Bronica, ETRS, wide, angle, lens, Zenzanon, 40mm, f4, scanned, scan, earliest, first, captured
Aurora Glen Dye au610410jhp 
 Scotland Aurora Borealis Glen Dye rays red 645 medium format autumn 27th September 1989 taken from Heatheryhaugh just above steep climb out of Glen Dye on the road to the Cairn O’Mount and which looks across to Clachnaben, the notable hill with a tor rocky outcrop which makes it visible from much of Deeside when looking south. This photo is one of the first I took of an Aurora display using the Fuji RHP 400asa 6.4.5cm format film and it became visible just after midnight when clouds cleared and made the stars and night sky visible although the large brown patches are moving cloud. The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about the display captured here.

I photographed using Fuji RHP 400asa medium format transparency film of which this photo is an example and bracketing exposures near the 20 second mark based on my experiences with photographing the Comet and aware that exposures much longer than 20 seconds incurred the affect of star trail so instead of sharp dots for stars they became lines. In this case I used the 40mm f4 Zenzanon on my Bronica ETRS. Push processing the 400asa slide film at the lab by two stops to the equivalent of 1600asa I found that an exposure around 20 second eventually gave the best results for best colour saturation and exposure and giving the maximum control of grain without it appearing washed out from underexposure as in this case. As I shot my general landscape work using Fuji film, usually Velvia or RAP, I stayed with it for the Aurora although Kodak film was acceptable in quality and results. I felt that the Fuji film handled the reds and greens better anyway and these are in practice the primary colours of Aurora displays when oxygen is excited by the incoming electrons. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Glen, Dye, Cairn, O’Mount, road, Heatheryhaugh, Clachnaben, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1989, September, slide, transparency, film, Fuji, RHP, 400asa, pushed, development, 1600asa, 645mm, time, exposure, Bronica, ETRS, wide, angle, lens, Zenzanon, 40mm, f4, scanned, scan, earliest, first, captured
Aurora Eslie Greater au61355jhp 
 Scotland Aurora Borealis Deeside Eslie Stone Circle display Agfa film October 1989 taken from the Recumbent Stone Circle called Esslie the Greater at Eslie to the SE of Banchory overlooking Feughside and Scolty Hill. This photo is from my second Aurora display I photographed using Agfa 1000 RS 6.4.5cm format film stock using my Bronica ETRS, from memory the fastest 120 film available at the time. The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about the display captured here.

This photograph using Agfa medium format transparency film of which this photo is an example was the one and only time I used it and I suspect it was underexposed as I would not have used my usual bracketing exposures near the 20 second mark based on my experiences with photographing the Comet and aware that exposures much longer than 20 seconds incurred the affect of star trail so instead of sharp dots for stars they became lines. In this case I used the 40mm f4 Zenzanon on my Bronica ETRS a slower lens to my usual f2.8 35mm primes. Push processing the 35mm 400asa slide film at the lab by two stops to the equivalent of 1600asa I found that an exposure around 20 second eventually gave the best results for best colour saturation and exposure and giving the maximum control of grain without it appearing washed out from underexposure as in this case. As I shot my general landscape work using Fuji film, usually Velvia or RAP, I stayed with it for the Aurora although Kodak film was acceptable in quality and results. I felt that the Fuji film handled the reds and greens better anyway and these are in practice the primary colours of Aurora displays when oxygen is excited by the incoming electrons and because of this I stopped using medium format stock almost straight away. This photo has no great technical merit as far as an Aurora record goes except as an example of the 645 format, Agfa film and appears to be the only record I had of this second observed display on the 21st October – I have a note that I missed a display on the 20th. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Eslie, Banchory, Feughside, Esslie, Recumbent, Stone, Circle, Bronze, Age, Clachnaben, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1989, October, medium, format, slide, transparency, film, Agfa, 1000 RS, 645mm, time, exposure, Bronica, ETRS, wide, angle, lens, Zenzanon, 40mm, f4, scanned, scan, earliest, first, captured
Aurora Eslie Greater au613514jhp 
 Scottish Northern Lights Esslie Stone Circle Greater Agfa 645 transparency October 1989 taken from the Recumbent Stone Circle called Esslie the Greater at Eslie to the SE of Banchory overlooking Feughside and Scolty Hill. This photo is from my second Aurora display I photographed using Agfa 1000 RS 6.4.5cm format film stock using my Bronica ETRS, from memory the fastest 120 film available at the time. The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about the display captured here.

This photograph using Agfa medium format transparency film of which this photo is an example was the one and only time I used it and I suspect it was underexposed as I would not have used my usual bracketing exposures near the 20 second mark based on my experiences with photographing the Comet and aware that exposures much longer than 20 seconds incurred the affect of star trail so instead of sharp dots for stars they became lines. In this case I used the 40mm f4 Zenzanon on my Bronica ETRS a slower lens to my usual f2.8 35mm primes. Push processing the 35mm 400asa slide film at the lab by two stops to the equivalent of 1600asa I found that an exposure around 20 second eventually gave the best results for best colour saturation and exposure and giving the maximum control of grain without it appearing washed out from underexposure as in this case. As I shot my general landscape work using Fuji film, usually Velvia or RAP, I stayed with it for the Aurora although Kodak film was acceptable in quality and results. I felt that the Fuji film handled the reds and greens better anyway and these are in practice the primary colours of Aurora displays when oxygen is excited by the incoming electrons and because of this I stopped using medium format stock almost straight away. This photo has no great technical merit as far as an Aurora record goes except as an example of the 645 format, Agfa film and appears to be the only record I had of this second observed display on the 21st October – I have a note that I missed a display on the 20th. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Eslie, Banchory, Feughside, Esslie, Recumbent, Stone, Circle, Bronze, Age, Clachnaben, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1989, October, medium, format, slide, transparency, film, Agfa, 1000 RS, 645mm, time, exposure, Bronica, ETRS, wide, angle, lens, Zenzanon, 40mm, f4, scanned, scan, earliest, first, captured
Aurora Cairn O Mount au61709jhp 
 Scotland Aurora Borealis lights Cairn O’Mount rays red yellow green winter 11th December 1989 taken on the north face of the Cairn O’Mount and which looks across to Clachnaben, the notable hill with a tor rocky outcrop which makes it visible from much of Deeside when looking south. This photo is one of the early ones, I think the third display, I took of an Aurora display using the Fuji RSP 11 35mm slide film rated by Fuji at 1600asa and possibly exposed shorter than the 20 seconds I later settled on and hence the darker and slightly stronger grain effect but actually far more accurate in terms of the human eye perception of a display. It was active around 22.30 to about 23.45 GMT/UT. The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about my first display of the 23 September and probably about the one captured here. The large dark post is one of the snow poles that line the side of the Cairn road. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Glen, Dye, Cairn, O’Mount, road, Clachnaben, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, upright, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1989, December, slide, film, Fuji, RSP11, 1600asa, 35mm, time, exposure, Nikon, FM2, wide, angle, lens, 28mm, f2.8, scanned, scan, captured
Aurora Cairn O Mount au61708jhp 
 Scotland Aurora Borealis display Cairn O’Mount rays red winter active 11th December 1989 taken on the north face of the Cairn O’Mount and which looks across to Clachnaben, the notable hill with a tor rocky outcrop which makes it visible from much of Deeside when looking south. This photo is one of the early ones, I think the third display, I took of an Aurora display using the Fuji RSP 11 35mm slide film rated by Fuji at 1600asa and possibly exposed shorter than the 20 seconds I later settled on and hence the darker and slightly stronger grain effect but actually far more accurate in terms of the human eye perception of a display. It was active around 22.30 to about 23.45 GMT/UT. The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about my first display of the 23 September and probably about the one captured here. The large dark post is one of the snow poles that line the side of the Cairn road. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Glen, Dye, Cairn, O’Mount, road, Clachnaben, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1989, December, slide, film, Fuji, RSP11, 1600asa, 35mm, time, exposure, Nikon, FM2, wide, angle, lens, 28mm, f2.8, scanned, scan, captured
Aurora Cairn O Mount au61706jhp 
 Scotland Aurora Borealis quiet display Cairn O’Mount arc winter 11th December 1989 taken on the north face of the Cairn O’Mount and which looks across to Clachnaben, the notable hill with a tor rocky outcrop which makes it visible from much of Deeside when looking south. This photo is one of the early ones, I think the third display, I took of an Aurora display using the Fuji RSP 11 35mm slide film rated by Fuji at 1600asa and possibly exposed shorter than the 20 seconds I later settled on and hence the darker and slightly stronger grain effect but actually far more accurate in terms of the human eye perception of a display. It was active around 22.30 to about 23.45 GMT/UT. The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about my first display of the 23 September and probably about the one captured here. The large dark post is one of the snow poles that line the side of the Cairn road. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Glen, Dye, Cairn, O’Mount, road, Clachnaben, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1989, December, slide, film, Fuji, RSP11, 1600asa, 35mm, time, exposure, Nikon, FM2, wide, angle, lens, 28mm, f2.8, scanned, scan, captured
Aurora Cairn O Mount au61705jhp 
 Scotland Aurora Borealis display Cairn O’Mount rays red winter 11th December 1989 taken on the north face of the Cairn O’Mount and which looks across to Clachnaben, the notable hill with a tor rocky outcrop which makes it visible from much of Deeside when looking south. This photo is one of the early ones, I think the third display, I took of an Aurora display using the Fuji RSP 11 35mm slide film rated by Fuji at 1600asa and possibly exposed shorter than the 20 seconds I later settled on and hence the darker and slightly stronger grain effect but actually far more accurate in terms of the human eye perception of a display. It was active around 22.30 to about 23.45 GMT/UT. The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about my first display of the 23 September and probably about the one captured here. The large dark post is one of the snow poles that line the side of the Cairn road. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Glen, Dye, Cairn, O’Mount, road, Clachnaben, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1989, December, slide, film, Fuji, RSP11, 1600asa, 35mm, time, exposure, Nikon, FM2, wide, angle, lens, 28mm, f2.8, scanned, scan, captured
Aurora Cairn O Mount au61704jhp 
 Scotland Northern Lights early stage display winter 11th December 1989 taken on the north face of the Cairn O’Mount and which looks across to Clachnaben, the notable hill with a tor rocky outcrop which makes it visible from much of Deeside when looking south. This photo is one of the early ones, I think the third display, I took of an Aurora display using the Fuji RSP 11 35mm slide film rated by Fuji at 1600asa and possibly exposed shorter than the 20 seconds I later settled on and hence the darker and slightly stronger grain effect but actually far more accurate in terms of the human eye perception of a display. It was active around 22.30 to about 23.45 GMT/UT. The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about my first display of the 23 September and probably about the one captured here. The large dark post is one of the snow poles that line the side of the Cairn road. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Glen, Dye, Cairn, O’Mount, road, Clachnaben, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1989, December, slide, film, Fuji, RSP11, 1600asa, 35mm, time, exposure, Nikon, FM2, wide, angle, lens, 28mm, f2.8, scanned, scan, captured
Aurora Cairn O Mount au61703jhp 
 Scottish low grade Aurora Borealis display Cairn O’Mount arc active winter 11th December 1989 taken on the north face of the Cairn O’Mount and which looks across to Clachnaben, the notable hill with a tor rocky outcrop which makes it visible from much of Deeside when looking south. This photo is one of the early ones, I think the third display, I took of an Aurora display using the Fuji RSP 11 35mm slide film rated by Fuji at 1600asa and possibly exposed shorter than the 20 seconds I later settled on and hence the darker and slightly stronger grain effect but actually far more accurate in terms of the human eye perception of a display. It was active around 22.30 to about 23.45 GMT/UT. The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about my first display of the 23 September and probably about the one captured here. The large dark post is one of the snow poles that line the side of the Cairn road. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Glen, Dye, Cairn, O’Mount, road, Clachnaben, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1989, December, slide, film, Fuji, RSP11, 1600asa, 35mm, time, exposure, Nikon, FM2, wide, angle, lens, 28mm, f2.8, scanned, scan, captured
Aurora Cairn O Mount au617023jhp 
 Scotland Aurora Borealis dying phase Northern sky faint rays yellow red winter 11th December 1989 taken on the north face of the Cairn O’Mount and which looks across to Clachnaben, the notable hill with a tor rocky outcrop which makes it visible from much of Deeside when looking south. This photo is one of the early ones, I think the third display, I took of an Aurora display using the Fuji RSP 11 35mm slide film rated by Fuji at 1600asa and possibly exposed shorter than the 20 seconds I later settled on and hence the darker and slightly stronger grain effect but actually far more accurate in terms of the human eye perception of a display. It was active around 22.30 to about 23.45 GMT/UT. The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about my first display of the 23 September and probably about the one captured here. The large dark post is one of the snow poles that line the side of the Cairn road. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Glen, Dye, Cairn, O’Mount, road, Clachnaben, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1989, December, slide, film, Fuji, RSP11, 1600asa, 35mm, time, exposure, Nikon, FM2, wide, angle, lens, 28mm, f2.8, scanned, scan, captured
Aurora Cairn O Mount au617020jhp 
 Scotland Aurora Borealis rays bundle colours ray purple yellow red winter 11th December 1989 taken on the north face of the Cairn O’Mount and which looks across to Clachnaben, the notable hill with a tor rocky outcrop which makes it visible from much of Deeside when looking south. This photo is one of the early ones, I think the third display, I took of an Aurora display using the Fuji RSP 11 35mm slide film rated by Fuji at 1600asa and possibly exposed shorter than the 20 seconds I later settled on and hence the darker and slightly stronger grain effect but actually far more accurate in terms of the human eye perception of a display. It was active around 22.30 to about 23.45 GMT/UT. The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about my first display of the 23 September and probably about the one captured here. The large dark post is one of the snow poles that line the side of the Cairn road. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Glen, Dye, Cairn, O’Mount, road, Clachnaben, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, upright, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1989, December, slide, film, Fuji, RSP11, 1600asa, 35mm, time, exposure, Nikon, FM2, wide, angle, lens, 28mm, f2.8, scanned, scan, captured
Aurora Cairn O Mount au61701jhp 
 Scotland Aurora Borealis arc north Cairn O’Mount winter December 1989 taken on the north face of the Cairn O’Mount and which looks across to Clachnaben, the notable hill with a tor rocky outcrop which makes it visible from much of Deeside when looking south. This photo is one of the early ones, I think the third display, I took of an Aurora display using the Fuji RSP 11 35mm slide film rated by Fuji at 1600asa and possibly exposed shorter than the 20 seconds I later settled on and hence the darker and slightly stronger grain effect but actually far more accurate in terms of the human eye perception of a display. It was active around 22.30 to about 23.45 GMT/UT on the 11th December. The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about my first display of the 23 September and probably about the one captured here. The large dark post is one of the snow poles that line the side of the Cairn road. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Glen, Dye, Cairn, O’Mount, road, Clachnaben, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1989, December, slide, film, Fuji, RSP11, 1600asa, 35mm, time, exposure, Nikon, FM2, wide, angle, lens, 28mm, f2.8, scanned, scan, captured
Aurora Cairn O Mount au617018jhp 
 Scotrish Aurora Borealis northwards night sky bright multiple rays yellow red winter 11th December 1989 taken on the north face of the Cairn O’Mount and which looks across to Clachnaben, the notable hill with a tor rocky outcrop which makes it visible from much of Deeside when looking south. This photo is one of the early ones, I think the third display, I took of an Aurora display using the Fuji RSP 11 35mm slide film rated by Fuji at 1600asa and possibly exposed shorter than the 20 seconds I later settled on and hence the darker and slightly stronger grain effect but actually far more accurate in terms of the human eye perception of a display. It was active around 22.30 to about 23.45 GMT/UT. The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about my first display of the 23 September and probably about the one captured here. The large dark post is one of the snow poles that line the side of the Cairn road. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Glen, Dye, Cairn, O’Mount, road, Clachnaben, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1989, December, slide, film, Fuji, RSP11, 1600asa, 35mm, time, exposure, Nikon, FM2, wide, angle, lens, 28mm, f2.8, scanned, scan, captured
Aurora Cairn O Mount au617017jhp 
 British Aurora Borealis Cairn O’Mount Ursa Major bright rays yellow red winter 11th December 1989 taken on the north face of the Cairn O’Mount and which looks across to Clachnaben, the notable hill with a tor rocky outcrop which makes it visible from much of Deeside when looking south. This photo is one of the early ones, I think the third display, I took of an Aurora display using the Fuji RSP 11 35mm slide film rated by Fuji at 1600asa and possibly exposed shorter than the 20 seconds I later settled on and hence the darker and slightly stronger grain effect but actually far more accurate in terms of the human eye perception of a display. It was active around 22.30 to about 23.45 GMT/UT. The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about my first display of the 23 September and probably about the one captured here. The large dark post is one of the snow poles that line the side of the Cairn road. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Glen, Dye, Cairn, O’Mount, road, Clachnaben, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, upright, Plough, constellation, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1989, December, slide, film, Fuji, RSP11, 1600asa, 35mm, time, exposure, Nikon, FM2, wide, angle, lens, 28mm, f2.8, scanned, scan, captured
Aurora Cairn O Mount au617016jhp 
 Scotland British Aurora Borealis Plough stars Cairn O’Mount rays yellow red winter 11th December 1989 taken on the north face of the Cairn O’Mount and which looks across to Clachnaben, the notable hill with a tor rocky outcrop which makes it visible from much of Deeside when looking south. This photo is one of the early ones, I think the third display, I took of an Aurora display using the Fuji RSP 11 35mm slide film rated by Fuji at 1600asa and possibly exposed shorter than the 20 seconds I later settled on and hence the darker and slightly stronger grain effect but actually far more accurate in terms of the human eye perception of a display. It was active around 22.30 to about 23.45 GMT/UT. The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about my first display of the 23 September and probably about the one captured here. The large dark post is one of the snow poles that line the side of the Cairn road. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Glen, Dye, Cairn, O’Mount, road, Clachnaben, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, upright, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1989, December, slide, film, Fuji, RSP11, 1600asa, 35mm, time, exposure, Nikon, FM2, wide, angle, lens, 28mm, f2.8, scanned, scan, captured
Aurora Cairn O Mount au617015jhp 
 Scotland Aurora Borealis active phase Cairn O’Mount bright ray yellow red winter 11th December 1989 taken on the north face of the Cairn O’Mount and which looks across to Clachnaben, the notable hill with a tor rocky outcrop which makes it visible from much of Deeside when looking south. This photo is one of the early ones, I think the third display, I took of an Aurora display using the Fuji RSP 11 35mm slide film rated by Fuji at 1600asa and possibly exposed shorter than the 20 seconds I later settled on and hence the darker and slightly stronger grain effect but actually far more accurate in terms of the human eye perception of a display. It was active around 22.30 to about 23.45 GMT/UT. The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about my first display of the 23 September and probably about the one captured here. The large dark post is one of the snow poles that line the side of the Cairn road. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Glen, Dye, Cairn, O’Mount, road, Clachnaben, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1989, December, slide, film, Fuji, RSP11, 1600asa, 35mm, time, exposure, Nikon, FM2, wide, angle, lens, 28mm, f2.8, scanned, scan, captured
Aurora Cairn O Mount au617013jhp 
 Scotland Aurora Borealis active phase colourful bright rays yellow red winter 11th December 1989 taken on the north face of the Cairn O’Mount and which looks across to Clachnaben, the notable hill with a tor rocky outcrop which makes it visible from much of Deeside when looking south. This photo is one of the early ones, I think the third display, I took of an Aurora display using the Fuji RSP 11 35mm slide film rated by Fuji at 1600asa and possibly exposed shorter than the 20 seconds I later settled on and hence the darker and slightly stronger grain effect but actually far more accurate in terms of the human eye perception of a display. It was active around 22.30 to about 23.45 GMT/UT. The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about my first display of the 23 September and probably about the one captured here. The large dark post is one of the snow poles that line the side of the Cairn road. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Glen, Dye, Cairn, O’Mount, road, Clachnaben, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1989, December, slide, film, Fuji, RSP11, 1600asa, 35mm, time, exposure, Nikon, FM2, wide, angle, lens, 28mm, f2.8, scanned, scan, captured
Aurora Cairn O Mount au617012jhp 
 Scottisah Northern Lights active phase Cairn O’Mount rays stars yellow red winter 11th December 1989 taken on the north face of the Cairn O’Mount and which looks across to Clachnaben, the notable hill with a tor rocky outcrop which makes it visible from much of Deeside when looking south. This photo is one of the early ones, I think the third display, I took of an Aurora display using the Fuji RSP 11 35mm slide film rated by Fuji at 1600asa and possibly exposed shorter than the 20 seconds I later settled on and hence the darker and slightly stronger grain effect but actually far more accurate in terms of the human eye perception of a display. It was active around 22.30 to about 23.45 GMT/UT. The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about my first display of the 23 September and probably about the one captured here. The large dark post is one of the snow poles that line the side of the Cairn road. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Glen, Dye, Cairn, O’Mount, road, Clachnaben, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1989, December, slide, film, Fuji, RSP11, 1600asa, 35mm, time, exposure, Nikon, FM2, wide, angle, lens, 28mm, f2.8, scanned, scan, captured
Aurora Cairn O Mount au617011jhp 
 Scottish Aberdeenshire Aurora Borealis colours active phase Cairn O’Mount bright ray yellow red winter 11th December 1989 taken on the north face of the Cairn O’Mount and which looks across to Clachnaben, the notable hill with a tor rocky outcrop which makes it visible from much of Deeside when looking south. This photo is one of the early ones, I think the third display, I took of an Aurora display using the Fuji RSP 11 35mm slide film rated by Fuji at 1600asa and possibly exposed shorter than the 20 seconds I later settled on and hence the darker and slightly stronger grain effect but actually far more accurate in terms of the human eye perception of a display. It was active around 22.30 to about 23.45 GMT/UT. The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about my first display of the 23 September and probably about the one captured here. The large dark post is one of the snow poles that line the side of the Cairn road. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Glen, Dye, Cairn, O’Mount, road, Clachnaben, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, upright, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1989, December, slide, film, Fuji, RSP11, 1600asa, 35mm, time, exposure, Nikon, FM2, wide, angle, lens, 28mm, f2.8, scanned, scan, captured
Aurora Glen Dye au61058jhp 
 Scottish Aurora Borealis display ray single Plough Aberdeenshire autumn 26th & 27th September 1989 taken from Heatheryhaugh just above steep climb out of Glen Dye on the road to the Cairn O’Mount and which looks across to Clachnaben, the notable hill with a tor rocky outcrop which makes it visible from much of Deeside when looking south. This photo is one of the first I took of an Aurora display using the Fuji 400asa slide film and came just after midnight when clouds cleared and made the stars and night sky visible although the large brown patches are moving cloud. The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about the display captured here.

The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about the first display I saw. Later tips helped until I started to park at a favourite viewpoint every clear night over the forthcoming years, the days before the Internet, and just watch the night sky.

I photographed using Fuji RHP 400asa, used in this photo, and RSP 11, rated at 1600ASA, the fastest available at the time in 35mm slide film of which this photo is an example and I tried both as well as bracketing exposures around the 20 second mark based on my experiences with photographing the Comet and aware that exposures much longer than 20 seconds incurred the affect of star trail so instead of sharp dots for stars they became lines. Instead of a telephoto lens as per the Comet, for Aurora I used my widest lens, a Nikkor 28mm with a f2.8 widest aperture. Push processing the 400asa slide film at the lab by two stops to the equivalent of 1600asa I found that an exposure around 20 second eventually gave the best results for best colour saturation and exposure and giving the maximum control of grain without it appearing washed out from underexposure. I found that the pushed 400asa stock was finer grained than the RSP11 which was rated at 1600asa-it was later dropped by Fuji when Provia was introduced. This basic arrangement eventually worked best when I moved to a DSLR Fuji S2 in 2003 with an ISO of 1600 giving comparable results to the ASA equivalent and the noise factor was akin to the grain of slide film. As I shot my general landscape work using Fuji I stayed with it for the Aurora although Kodak film was acceptable in quality and results. I felt that the Fuji film handled the reds and greens better anyway and these are in practice the primary colours of Aurora displays when oxygen is excited by the incoming electrons. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Glen, Dye, Cairn, O’Mount, road, Heatheryhaugh, Clachnaben, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1989, September, December, slide, film, Fuji, RHP, RSP11, 400asa, 1600asa, 35mm, time, exposure, Nikon, FM2, wide, angle, lens, 28mm, 24mm, f2.8, scanned, scan, earliest, first, captured
Aurora Glen Dye au61054jhp 
 Scottish Aurora Borealis display Glen Dye faint multiple rays red autumn 26th & 27th September 1989 taken from Heatheryhaugh just above steep climb out of Glen Dye on the road to the Cairn O’Mount and which looks across to Clachnaben, the notable hill with a tor rocky outcrop which makes it visible from much of Deeside when looking south. This photo is one of the first I took of an Aurora display using the Fuji 400asa slide film and came just after midnight when clouds cleared and made the stars and night sky visible although the large brown patches are moving cloud. The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about the display captured here.

The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about the first display I saw. Later tips helped until I started to park at a favourite viewpoint every clear night over the forthcoming years, the days before the Internet, and just watch the night sky.

I photographed using Fuji RHP 400asa, used in this photo, and RSP 11, rated at 1600ASA, the fastest available at the time in 35mm slide film of which this photo is an example and I tried both as well as bracketing exposures around the 20 second mark based on my experiences with photographing the Comet and aware that exposures much longer than 20 seconds incurred the affect of star trail so instead of sharp dots for stars they became lines. Instead of a telephoto lens as per the Comet, for Aurora I used my widest lens, a Nikkor 28mm with a f2.8 widest aperture. Push processing the 400asa slide film at the lab by two stops to the equivalent of 1600asa I found that an exposure around 20 second eventually gave the best results for best colour saturation and exposure and giving the maximum control of grain without it appearing washed out from underexposure. I found that the pushed 400asa stock was finer grained than the RSP11 which was rated at 1600asa-it was later dropped by Fuji when Provia was introduced. This basic arrangement eventually worked best when I moved to a DSLR Fuji S2 in 2003 with an ISO of 1600 giving comparable results to the ASA equivalent and the noise factor was akin to the grain of slide film. As I shot my general landscape work using Fuji I stayed with it for the Aurora although Kodak film was acceptable in quality and results. I felt that the Fuji film handled the reds and greens better anyway and these are in practice the primary colours of Aurora displays when oxygen is excited by the incoming electrons. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Glen, Dye, Cairn, O’Mount, road, Heatheryhaugh, Clachnaben, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1989, September, December, slide, film, Fuji, RHP, RSP11, 400asa, 1600asa, 35mm, time, exposure, Nikon, FM2, wide, angle, lens, 28mm, 24mm, f2.8, scanned, scan, earliest, first, captured
Aurora Glen Dye au610536jhp 
 Scotland Aurora Borealis rays red clouds moving shapes Aberdeenshire autumn 26th & 27th September 1989 taken from Heatheryhaugh just above steep climb out of Glen Dye on the road to the Cairn O’Mount and which looks across to Clachnaben, the notable hill with a tor rocky outcrop which makes it visible from much of Deeside when looking south. This photo is one of the first I took of an Aurora display using the Fuji 400asa slide film, the end of my first film, and came just after midnight when clouds cleared and made the stars and night sky visible although the large brown patches are moving cloud. The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about the display captured here.

The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about the first display I saw. Later tips helped until I started to park at a favourite viewpoint every clear night over the forthcoming years, the days before the Internet, and just watch the night sky.

I photographed using Fuji RHP 400asa, used in this photo, and RSP 11, rated at 1600ASA, the fastest available at the time in 35mm slide film of which this photo is an example and I tried both as well as bracketing exposures around the 20 second mark based on my experiences with photographing the Comet and aware that exposures much longer than 20 seconds incurred the affect of star trail so instead of sharp dots for stars they became lines. Instead of a telephoto lens as per the Comet, for Aurora I used my widest lens, a Nikkor 28mm with a f2.8 widest aperture. Push processing the 400asa slide film at the lab by two stops to the equivalent of 1600asa I found that an exposure around 20 second eventually gave the best results for best colour saturation and exposure and giving the maximum control of grain without it appearing washed out from underexposure. I found that the pushed 400asa stock was finer grained than the RSP11 which was rated at 1600asa-it was later dropped by Fuji when Provia was introduced. This basic arrangement eventually worked best when I moved to a DSLR Fuji S2 in 2003 with an ISO of 1600 giving comparable results to the ASA equivalent and the noise factor was akin to the grain of slide film. As I shot my general landscape work using Fuji I stayed with it for the Aurora although Kodak film was acceptable in quality and results. I felt that the Fuji film handled the reds and greens better anyway and these are in practice the primary colours of Aurora displays when oxygen is excited by the incoming electrons. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Glen, Dye, Cairn, O’Mount, road, Heatheryhaugh, Clachnaben, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, upright, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1989, September, December, slide, film, Fuji, RHP, RSP11, 400asa, 1600asa, 35mm, time, exposure, Nikon, FM2, wide, angle, lens, 28mm, 24mm, f2.8, scanned, scan, earliest, first, captured
Aurora Glen Dye au610535jhp 
 Scotland Aurora Borealis Glen Dye strong rays red clouds patterns autumn 26th & 27th September 1989 taken from Heatheryhaugh just above steep climb out of Glen Dye on the road to the Cairn O’Mount and which looks across to Clachnaben, the notable hill with a tor rocky outcrop which makes it visible from much of Deeside when looking south. This photo is one of the first I took of an Aurora display using the Fuji 400asa slide film and came just after midnight when clouds cleared and made the stars and night sky visible although the large brown patches are moving cloud. The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about the display captured here.

The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about the first display I saw. Later tips helped until I started to park at a favourite viewpoint every clear night over the forthcoming years, the days before the Internet, and just watch the night sky.

I photographed using Fuji RHP 400asa, used in this photo, and RSP 11, rated at 1600ASA, the fastest available at the time in 35mm slide film of which this photo is an example and I tried both as well as bracketing exposures around the 20 second mark based on my experiences with photographing the Comet and aware that exposures much longer than 20 seconds incurred the affect of star trail so instead of sharp dots for stars they became lines. Instead of a telephoto lens as per the Comet, for Aurora I used my widest lens, a Nikkor 28mm with a f2.8 widest aperture. Push processing the 400asa slide film at the lab by two stops to the equivalent of 1600asa I found that an exposure around 20 second eventually gave the best results for best colour saturation and exposure and giving the maximum control of grain without it appearing washed out from underexposure. I found that the pushed 400asa stock was finer grained than the RSP11 which was rated at 1600asa-it was later dropped by Fuji when Provia was introduced. This basic arrangement eventually worked best when I moved to a DSLR Fuji S2 in 2003 with an ISO of 1600 giving comparable results to the ASA equivalent and the noise factor was akin to the grain of slide film. As I shot my general landscape work using Fuji I stayed with it for the Aurora although Kodak film was acceptable in quality and results. I felt that the Fuji film handled the reds and greens better anyway and these are in practice the primary colours of Aurora displays when oxygen is excited by the incoming electrons. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Glen, Dye, Cairn, O’Mount, road, Heatheryhaugh, Clachnaben, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, upright, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1989, September, December, slide, film, Fuji, RHP, RSP11, 400asa, 1600asa, 35mm, time, exposure, Nikon, FM2, wide, angle, lens, 28mm, 24mm, f2.8, scanned, scan, earliest, first, captured
Aurora Glen Dye au610533jhp 
 Scottish Aurora Borealis Northern Lights display rays red clouds stars autumn 26th & 27th September 1989 taken from Heatheryhaugh just above steep climb out of Glen Dye on the road to the Cairn O’Mount and which looks across to Clachnaben, the notable hill with a tor rocky outcrop which makes it visible from much of Deeside when looking south. This photo is one of the first I took of an Aurora display using the Fuji 400asa slide film and came just after midnight when clouds cleared and made the stars and night sky visible although the large brown patches are moving cloud. The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about the display captured here.

The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about the first display I saw. Later tips helped until I started to park at a favourite viewpoint every clear night over the forthcoming years, the days before the Internet, and just watch the night sky.

I photographed using Fuji RHP 400asa, used in this photo, and RSP 11, rated at 1600ASA, the fastest available at the time in 35mm slide film of which this photo is an example and I tried both as well as bracketing exposures around the 20 second mark based on my experiences with photographing the Comet and aware that exposures much longer than 20 seconds incurred the affect of star trail so instead of sharp dots for stars they became lines. Instead of a telephoto lens as per the Comet, for Aurora I used my widest lens, a Nikkor 28mm with a f2.8 widest aperture. Push processing the 400asa slide film at the lab by two stops to the equivalent of 1600asa I found that an exposure around 20 second eventually gave the best results for best colour saturation and exposure and giving the maximum control of grain without it appearing washed out from underexposure. I found that the pushed 400asa stock was finer grained than the RSP11 which was rated at 1600asa-it was later dropped by Fuji when Provia was introduced. This basic arrangement eventually worked best when I moved to a DSLR Fuji S2 in 2003 with an ISO of 1600 giving comparable results to the ASA equivalent and the noise factor was akin to the grain of slide film. As I shot my general landscape work using Fuji I stayed with it for the Aurora although Kodak film was acceptable in quality and results. I felt that the Fuji film handled the reds and greens better anyway and these are in practice the primary colours of Aurora displays when oxygen is excited by the incoming electrons. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Glen, Dye, Cairn, O’Mount, road, Heatheryhaugh, Clachnaben, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, upright, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1989, September, December, slide, film, Fuji, RHP, RSP11, 400asa, 1600asa, 35mm, time, exposure, Nikon, FM2, wide, angle, lens, 28mm, 24mm, f2.8, scanned, scan, earliest, first, captured
Aurora Glen Dye au610531jhp 
 Scotland photo Aurora Borealis display rays pink clouds windy shapes autumn 26th & 27th September 1989 taken from Heatheryhaugh just above steep climb out of Glen Dye on the road to the Cairn O’Mount and which looks across to Clachnaben, the notable hill with a tor rocky outcrop which makes it visible from much of Deeside when looking south. This photo is one of the first I took of an Aurora display using the Fuji 400asa slide film and came just after midnight when clouds cleared and made the stars and night sky visible although the large brown patches are moving cloud. The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about the display captured here.

The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about the first display I saw. Later tips helped until I started to park at a favourite viewpoint every clear night over the forthcoming years, the days before the Internet, and just watch the night sky.

I photographed using Fuji RHP 400asa, used in this photo, and RSP 11, rated at 1600ASA, the fastest available at the time in 35mm slide film of which this photo is an example and I tried both as well as bracketing exposures around the 20 second mark based on my experiences with photographing the Comet and aware that exposures much longer than 20 seconds incurred the affect of star trail so instead of sharp dots for stars they became lines. Instead of a telephoto lens as per the Comet, for Aurora I used my widest lens, a Nikkor 28mm with a f2.8 widest aperture. Push processing the 400asa slide film at the lab by two stops to the equivalent of 1600asa I found that an exposure around 20 second eventually gave the best results for best colour saturation and exposure and giving the maximum control of grain without it appearing washed out from underexposure. I found that the pushed 400asa stock was finer grained than the RSP11 which was rated at 1600asa-it was later dropped by Fuji when Provia was introduced. This basic arrangement eventually worked best when I moved to a DSLR Fuji S2 in 2003 with an ISO of 1600 giving comparable results to the ASA equivalent and the noise factor was akin to the grain of slide film. As I shot my general landscape work using Fuji I stayed with it for the Aurora although Kodak film was acceptable in quality and results. I felt that the Fuji film handled the reds and greens better anyway and these are in practice the primary colours of Aurora displays when oxygen is excited by the incoming electrons. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Glen, Dye, Cairn, O’Mount, road, Heatheryhaugh, Clachnaben, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1989, September, December, slide, film, Fuji, RHP, RSP11, 400asa, 1600asa, 35mm, time, exposure, Nikon, FM2, wide, angle, lens, 28mm, 24mm, f2.8, scanned, scan, earliest, first, captured
Aurora Glen Dye au61052jhp 
 Scotland Aurora Borealis display Glen Dye overexposed rays trailing stars red autumn 26th & 27th September 1989 taken from Heatheryhaugh just above steep climb out of Glen Dye on the road to the Cairn O’Mount and which looks across to Clachnaben, the notable hill with a tor rocky outcrop which makes it visible from much of Deeside when looking south. This photo is one of the first I took of an Aurora display using the Fuji 400asa slide film and came just after midnight when clouds cleared and made the stars and night sky visible although the large brown patches are moving cloud. The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about the display captured here.

The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about the first display I saw. Later tips helped until I started to park at a favourite viewpoint every clear night over the forthcoming years, the days before the Internet, and just watch the night sky.

I photographed using Fuji RHP 400asa, used in this photo, and RSP 11, rated at 1600ASA, the fastest available at the time in 35mm slide film of which this photo is an example and I tried both as well as bracketing exposures around the 20 second mark based on my experiences with photographing the Comet and aware that exposures much longer than 20 seconds incurred the affect of star trail so instead of sharp dots for stars they became lines. Instead of a telephoto lens as per the Comet, for Aurora I used my widest lens, a Nikkor 28mm with a f2.8 widest aperture. Push processing the 400asa slide film at the lab by two stops to the equivalent of 1600asa I found that an exposure around 20 second eventually gave the best results for best colour saturation and exposure and giving the maximum control of grain without it appearing washed out from underexposure. I found that the pushed 400asa stock was finer grained than the RSP11 which was rated at 1600asa-it was later dropped by Fuji when Provia was introduced. This basic arrangement eventually worked best when I moved to a DSLR Fuji S2 in 2003 with an ISO of 1600 giving comparable results to the ASA equivalent and the noise factor was akin to the grain of slide film. As I shot my general landscape work using Fuji I stayed with it for the Aurora although Kodak film was acceptable in quality and results. I felt that the Fuji film handled the reds and greens better anyway and these are in practice the primary colours of Aurora displays when oxygen is excited by the incoming electrons. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Glen, Dye, Cairn, O’Mount, road, Heatheryhaugh, Clachnaben, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1989, September, December, slide, film, Fuji, RHP, RSP11, 400asa, 1600asa, 35mm, time, exposure, Nikon, FM2, wide, angle, lens, 28mm, 24mm, f2.8, scanned, scan, earliest, first, captured
Aurora Glen Dye au610527jhp 
 Scotland Aurora Borealis night sky strong multiple rays red Arc autumn 26th & 27th September 1989 taken from Heatheryhaugh just above steep climb out of Glen Dye on the road to the Cairn O’Mount and which looks across to Clachnaben, the notable hill with a tor rocky outcrop which makes it visible from much of Deeside when looking south. This photo is one of the first I took of an Aurora display using the Fuji 400asa slide film and came just after midnight when clouds cleared and made the stars and night sky visible although the large brown patches are moving cloud. The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about the display captured here.

The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about the first display I saw. Later tips helped until I started to park at a favourite viewpoint every clear night over the forthcoming years, the days before the Internet, and just watch the night sky.

I photographed using Fuji RHP 400asa, used in this photo, and RSP 11, rated at 1600ASA, the fastest available at the time in 35mm slide film of which this photo is an example and I tried both as well as bracketing exposures around the 20 second mark based on my experiences with photographing the Comet and aware that exposures much longer than 20 seconds incurred the affect of star trail so instead of sharp dots for stars they became lines. Instead of a telephoto lens as per the Comet, for Aurora I used my widest lens, a Nikkor 28mm with a f2.8 widest aperture. Push processing the 400asa slide film at the lab by two stops to the equivalent of 1600asa I found that an exposure around 20 second eventually gave the best results for best colour saturation and exposure and giving the maximum control of grain without it appearing washed out from underexposure. I found that the pushed 400asa stock was finer grained than the RSP11 which was rated at 1600asa-it was later dropped by Fuji when Provia was introduced. This basic arrangement eventually worked best when I moved to a DSLR Fuji S2 in 2003 with an ISO of 1600 giving comparable results to the ASA equivalent and the noise factor was akin to the grain of slide film. As I shot my general landscape work using Fuji I stayed with it for the Aurora although Kodak film was acceptable in quality and results. I felt that the Fuji film handled the reds and greens better anyway and these are in practice the primary colours of Aurora displays when oxygen is excited by the incoming electrons. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Glen, Dye, Cairn, O’Mount, road, Heatheryhaugh, Clachnaben, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1989, September, December, slide, film, Fuji, RHP, RSP11, 400asa, 1600asa, 35mm, time, exposure, Nikon, FM2, wide, angle, lens, 28mm, 24mm, f2.8, scanned, scan, earliest, first, captured
Aurora Glen Dye au610526jhp 
 Scotland Northern Lights Glen Dye many strong bright rays red autumn 26th & 27th September 1989 taken from Heatheryhaugh just above steep climb out of Glen Dye on the road to the Cairn O’Mount and which looks across to Clachnaben, the notable hill with a tor rocky outcrop which makes it visible from much of Deeside when looking south. This photo is one of the first I took of an Aurora display using the Fuji 400asa slide film and came just after midnight when clouds cleared and made the stars and night sky visible although the large brown patches are moving cloud. The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about the display captured here.

The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about the first display I saw. Later tips helped until I started to park at a favourite viewpoint every clear night over the forthcoming years, the days before the Internet, and just watch the night sky.

I photographed using Fuji RHP 400asa, used in this photo, and RSP 11, rated at 1600ASA, the fastest available at the time in 35mm slide film of which this photo is an example and I tried both as well as bracketing exposures around the 20 second mark based on my experiences with photographing the Comet and aware that exposures much longer than 20 seconds incurred the affect of star trail so instead of sharp dots for stars they became lines. Instead of a telephoto lens as per the Comet, for Aurora I used my widest lens, a Nikkor 28mm with a f2.8 widest aperture. Push processing the 400asa slide film at the lab by two stops to the equivalent of 1600asa I found that an exposure around 20 second eventually gave the best results for best colour saturation and exposure and giving the maximum control of grain without it appearing washed out from underexposure. I found that the pushed 400asa stock was finer grained than the RSP11 which was rated at 1600asa-it was later dropped by Fuji when Provia was introduced. This basic arrangement eventually worked best when I moved to a DSLR Fuji S2 in 2003 with an ISO of 1600 giving comparable results to the ASA equivalent and the noise factor was akin to the grain of slide film. As I shot my general landscape work using Fuji I stayed with it for the Aurora although Kodak film was acceptable in quality and results. I felt that the Fuji film handled the reds and greens better anyway and these are in practice the primary colours of Aurora displays when oxygen is excited by the incoming electrons. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Glen, Dye, Cairn, O’Mount, road, Heatheryhaugh, Clachnaben, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, upright, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1989, September, December, slide, film, Fuji, RHP, RSP11, 400asa, 1600asa, 35mm, time, exposure, Nikon, FM2, wide, angle, lens, 28mm, 24mm, f2.8, scanned, scan, earliest, first, captured
Aurora Glen Dye au610525jhp 
 Scottish active Aurora Borealis Glen Dye rays large red clouds autumn 26th & 27th September 1989 taken from Heatheryhaugh just above steep climb out of Glen Dye on the road to the Cairn O’Mount and which looks across to Clachnaben, the notable hill with a tor rocky outcrop which makes it visible from much of Deeside when looking south. This photo is one of the first I took of an Aurora display using the Fuji 400asa slide film and came just after midnight when clouds cleared and made the stars and night sky visible although the large brown patches are moving cloud. The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about the display captured here.

The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about the first display I saw. Later tips helped until I started to park at a favourite viewpoint every clear night over the forthcoming years, the days before the Internet, and just watch the night sky.

I photographed using Fuji RHP 400asa, used in this photo, and RSP 11, rated at 1600ASA, the fastest available at the time in 35mm slide film of which this photo is an example and I tried both as well as bracketing exposures around the 20 second mark based on my experiences with photographing the Comet and aware that exposures much longer than 20 seconds incurred the affect of star trail so instead of sharp dots for stars they became lines. Instead of a telephoto lens as per the Comet, for Aurora I used my widest lens, a Nikkor 28mm with a f2.8 widest aperture. Push processing the 400asa slide film at the lab by two stops to the equivalent of 1600asa I found that an exposure around 20 second eventually gave the best results for best colour saturation and exposure and giving the maximum control of grain without it appearing washed out from underexposure. I found that the pushed 400asa stock was finer grained than the RSP11 which was rated at 1600asa-it was later dropped by Fuji when Provia was introduced. This basic arrangement eventually worked best when I moved to a DSLR Fuji S2 in 2003 with an ISO of 1600 giving comparable results to the ASA equivalent and the noise factor was akin to the grain of slide film. As I shot my general landscape work using Fuji I stayed with it for the Aurora although Kodak film was acceptable in quality and results. I felt that the Fuji film handled the reds and greens better anyway and these are in practice the primary colours of Aurora displays when oxygen is excited by the incoming electrons. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Glen, Dye, Cairn, O’Mount, road, Heatheryhaugh, Clachnaben, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1989, September, December, slide, film, Fuji, RHP, RSP11, 400asa, 1600asa, 35mm, time, exposure, Nikon, FM2, wide, angle, lens, 28mm, 24mm, f2.8, scanned, scan, earliest, first, captured
Aurora Glen Dye au610524jhp 
 Scotland Merry Dancers display rays red stars several Aurora autumn September 26th & 27th 1989 taken from Heatheryhaugh just above steep climb out of Glen Dye on the road to the Cairn O’Mount and which looks across to Clachnaben, the notable hill with a tor rocky outcrop which makes it visible from much of Deeside when looking south. This photo is one of the first I took of an Aurora display using the Fuji 400asa slide film and came just after midnight when clouds cleared and made the stars and night sky visible although the large brown patches are moving cloud. The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about the display captured here.

The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about the first display I saw. Later tips helped until I started to park at a favourite viewpoint every clear night over the forthcoming years, the days before the Internet, and just watch the night sky.

I photographed using Fuji RHP 400asa, used in this photo, and RSP 11, rated at 1600ASA, the fastest available at the time in 35mm slide film of which this photo is an example and I tried both as well as bracketing exposures around the 20 second mark based on my experiences with photographing the Comet and aware that exposures much longer than 20 seconds incurred the affect of star trail so instead of sharp dots for stars they became lines. Instead of a telephoto lens as per the Comet, for Aurora I used my widest lens, a Nikkor 28mm with a f2.8 widest aperture. Push processing the 400asa slide film at the lab by two stops to the equivalent of 1600asa I found that an exposure around 20 second eventually gave the best results for best colour saturation and exposure and giving the maximum control of grain without it appearing washed out from underexposure. I found that the pushed 400asa stock was finer grained than the RSP11 which was rated at 1600asa-it was later dropped by Fuji when Provia was introduced. This basic arrangement eventually worked best when I moved to a DSLR Fuji S2 in 2003 with an ISO of 1600 giving comparable results to the ASA equivalent and the noise factor was akin to the grain of slide film. As I shot my general landscape work using Fuji I stayed with it for the Aurora although Kodak film was acceptable in quality and results. I felt that the Fuji film handled the reds and greens better anyway and these are in practice the primary colours of Aurora displays when oxygen is excited by the incoming electrons. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Glen, Dye, Cairn, O’Mount, road, Heatheryhaugh, Clachnaben, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1989, September, December, slide, film, Fuji, RHP, RSP11, 400asa, 1600asa, 35mm, time, exposure, Nikon, FM2, wide, angle, lens, 28mm, 24mm, f2.8, scanned, scan, earliest, first, captured
Aurora Glen Dye au610523jhp 
 Scotland Aurora Borealis Glen Dye rays red long exposure clouds 26th & 27th September 1989 taken from Heatheryhaugh just above steep climb out of Glen Dye on the road to the Cairn O’Mount and which looks across to Clachnaben, the notable hill with a tor rocky outcrop which makes it visible from much of Deeside when looking south. This photo is one of the first I took of an Aurora display using the Fuji 400asa slide film and came just after midnight when clouds cleared and made the stars and night sky visible although the large brown patches are moving cloud. The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about the display captured here.

The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about the first display I saw. Later tips helped until I started to park at a favourite viewpoint every clear night over the forthcoming years, the days before the Internet, and just watch the night sky.

I photographed using Fuji RHP 400asa, used in this photo, and RSP 11, rated at 1600ASA, the fastest available at the time in 35mm slide film of which this photo is an example and I tried both as well as bracketing exposures around the 20 second mark based on my experiences with photographing the Comet and aware that exposures much longer than 20 seconds incurred the affect of star trail so instead of sharp dots for stars they became lines. Instead of a telephoto lens as per the Comet, for Aurora I used my widest lens, a Nikkor 28mm with a f2.8 widest aperture. Push processing the 400asa slide film at the lab by two stops to the equivalent of 1600asa I found that an exposure around 20 second eventually gave the best results for best colour saturation and exposure and giving the maximum control of grain without it appearing washed out from underexposure. I found that the pushed 400asa stock was finer grained than the RSP11 which was rated at 1600asa-it was later dropped by Fuji when Provia was introduced. This basic arrangement eventually worked best when I moved to a DSLR Fuji S2 in 2003 with an ISO of 1600 giving comparable results to the ASA equivalent and the noise factor was akin to the grain of slide film. As I shot my general landscape work using Fuji I stayed with it for the Aurora although Kodak film was acceptable in quality and results. I felt that the Fuji film handled the reds and greens better anyway and these are in practice the primary colours of Aurora displays when oxygen is excited by the incoming electrons. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Glen, Dye, Cairn, O’Mount, road, Heatheryhaugh, Clachnaben, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1989, September, December, slide, film, Fuji, RHP, RSP11, 400asa, 1600asa, 35mm, time, exposure, Nikon, FM2, wide, angle, lens, 28mm, 24mm, f2.8, scanned, scan, earliest, first, captured
Aurora Glen Dye au610521jhp 
 Scotland Northern Lights Clachnaben hill rays mulitple red autumn 26th & 27th September 1989 taken from Heatheryhaugh just above steep climb out of Glen Dye on the road to the Cairn O’Mount and which looks across to Clachnaben, the notable hill with a tor rocky outcrop which makes it visible from much of Deeside when looking south. This photo is one of the first I took of an Aurora display using the Fuji 400asa slide film and came just after midnight when clouds cleared and made the stars and night sky visible although the large brown patches are moving cloud. The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about the display captured here.

The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about the first display I saw. Later tips helped until I started to park at a favourite viewpoint every clear night over the forthcoming years, the days before the Internet, and just watch the night sky.

I photographed using Fuji RHP 400asa, used in this photo, and RSP 11, rated at 1600ASA, the fastest available at the time in 35mm slide film of which this photo is an example and I tried both as well as bracketing exposures around the 20 second mark based on my experiences with photographing the Comet and aware that exposures much longer than 20 seconds incurred the affect of star trail so instead of sharp dots for stars they became lines. Instead of a telephoto lens as per the Comet, for Aurora I used my widest lens, a Nikkor 28mm with a f2.8 widest aperture. Push processing the 400asa slide film at the lab by two stops to the equivalent of 1600asa I found that an exposure around 20 second eventually gave the best results for best colour saturation and exposure and giving the maximum control of grain without it appearing washed out from underexposure. I found that the pushed 400asa stock was finer grained than the RSP11 which was rated at 1600asa-it was later dropped by Fuji when Provia was introduced. This basic arrangement eventually worked best when I moved to a DSLR Fuji S2 in 2003 with an ISO of 1600 giving comparable results to the ASA equivalent and the noise factor was akin to the grain of slide film. As I shot my general landscape work using Fuji I stayed with it for the Aurora although Kodak film was acceptable in quality and results. I felt that the Fuji film handled the reds and greens better anyway and these are in practice the primary colours of Aurora displays when oxygen is excited by the incoming electrons. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Glen, Dye, Cairn, O’Mount, road, Heatheryhaugh, Clachnaben, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1989, September, December, slide, film, Fuji, RHP, RSP11, 400asa, 1600asa, 35mm, time, exposure, Nikon, FM2, wide, angle, lens, 28mm, 24mm, f2.8, scanned, scan, earliest, first, captured
Aurora Glen Dye au610520jhp 
 Scotland Aurora Borealis display rays red clouds Jim Henderson Photo autumn 26th & 27th September 1989 taken from Heatheryhaugh just above steep climb out of Glen Dye on the road to the Cairn O’Mount and which looks across to Clachnaben, the notable hill with a tor rocky outcrop which makes it visible from much of Deeside when looking south. This photo is one of the first I took of an Aurora display using the Fuji 400asa slide film, the first film I tried out, and came just after midnight when clouds cleared and made the stars and night sky visible although the large brown patches are moving cloud. The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about the display captured here.

The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about the first display I saw. Later tips helped until I started to park at a favourite viewpoint every clear night over the forthcoming years, the days before the Internet, and just watch the night sky.

I photographed using Fuji RHP 400asa, used in this photo, and RSP 11, rated at 1600ASA, the fastest available at the time in 35mm slide film of which this photo is an example and I tried both as well as bracketing exposures around the 20 second mark based on my experiences with photographing the Comet and aware that exposures much longer than 20 seconds incurred the affect of star trail so instead of sharp dots for stars they became lines. Instead of a telephoto lens as per the Comet, for Aurora I used my widest lens, a Nikkor 28mm with a f2.8 widest aperture. Push processing the 400asa slide film at the lab by two stops to the equivalent of 1600asa I found that an exposure around 20 second eventually gave the best results for best colour saturation and exposure and giving the maximum control of grain without it appearing washed out from underexposure. I found that the pushed 400asa stock was finer grained than the RSP11 which was rated at 1600asa-it was later dropped by Fuji when Provia was introduced. This basic arrangement eventually worked best when I moved to a DSLR Fuji S2 in 2003 with an ISO of 1600 giving comparable results to the ASA equivalent and the noise factor was akin to the grain of slide film. As I shot my general landscape work using Fuji I stayed with it for the Aurora although Kodak film was acceptable in quality and results. I felt that the Fuji film handled the reds and greens better anyway and these are in practice the primary colours of Aurora displays when oxygen is excited by the incoming electrons. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Glen, Dye, Cairn, O’Mount, road, Heatheryhaugh, Clachnaben, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1989, September, December, slide, film, Fuji, RHP, RSP11, 400asa, 1600asa, 35mm, time, exposure, Nikon, FM2, wide, angle, lens, 28mm, 24mm, f2.8, scanned, scan, earliest, first, captured
Aurora Glen Dye au61051jhp 
 Scotland Aurora Borealis display Glen Dye rays clouds first photo autumn 26th & 27th September 1989 taken from Heatheryhaugh just above steep climb out of Glen Dye on the road to the Cairn O’Mount and which looks across to Clachnaben, the notable hill with a tor rocky outcrop which makes it visible from much of Deeside when looking south. This photo was the first I took of an Aurora display using the Fuji 400asa slide film and came just after midnight when clouds cleared and made the stars and night sky visible and some rays visible through the gaps. This was probably an underexposure, maybe 10 seconds or so. The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about the display captured here.

The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about the first display I saw. Later tips helped until I started to park at a favourite viewpoint every clear night over the forthcoming years, the days before the Internet, and just watch the night sky.

I photographed using Fuji RHP 400asa, used in this photo, and RSP 11, rated at 1600ASA, the fastest available at the time in 35mm slide film of which this photo is an example and I tried both as well as bracketing exposures around the 20 second mark based on my experiences with photographing the Comet and aware that exposures much longer than 20 seconds incurred the affect of star trail so instead of sharp dots for stars they became lines. Instead of a telephoto lens as per the Comet, for Aurora I used my widest lens, a Nikkor 28mm with a f2.8 widest aperture. Push processing the 400asa slide film at the lab by two stops to the equivalent of 1600asa I found that an exposure around 20 second eventually gave the best results for best colour saturation and exposure and giving the maximum control of grain without it appearing washed out from underexposure. I found that the pushed 400asa stock was finer grained than the RSP11 which was rated at 1600asa-it was later dropped by Fuji when Provia was introduced. This basic arrangement eventually worked best when I moved to a DSLR Fuji S2 in 2003 with an ISO of 1600 giving comparable results to the ASA equivalent and the noise factor was akin to the grain of slide film. As I shot my general landscape work using Fuji I stayed with it for the Aurora although Kodak film was acceptable in quality and results. I felt that the Fuji film handled the reds and greens better anyway and these are in practice the primary colours of Aurora displays when oxygen is excited by the incoming electrons. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Glen, Dye, Cairn, O’Mount, road, Heatheryhaugh, Clachnaben, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1989, September, December, slide, film, Fuji, RHP, RSP11, 400asa, 1600asa, 35mm, time, exposure, Nikon, FM2, wide, angle, lens, 28mm, 24mm, f2.8, scanned, scan, earliest, first, captured
Aurora Glen Dye au610517jhp 
 Aberdeenshire Aurora Borealis display Glen Dye faint rays clouds gaps autumn 26th & 27th September 1989 taken from Heatheryhaugh just above steep climb out of Glen Dye on the road to the Cairn O’Mount and which looks across to Clachnaben, the notable hill with a tor rocky outcrop which makes it visible from much of Deeside when looking south. This photo is one of the first I took of an Aurora display using the Fuji 400asa slide film and came just after midnight when clouds cleared and made the stars and night sky visible although the large brown patches are moving cloud. The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about the display captured here.

The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about the first display I saw. Later tips helped until I started to park at a favourite viewpoint every clear night over the forthcoming years, the days before the Internet, and just watch the night sky.

I photographed using Fuji RHP 400asa, used in this photo, and RSP 11, rated at 1600ASA, the fastest available at the time in 35mm slide film of which this photo is an example and I tried both as well as bracketing exposures around the 20 second mark based on my experiences with photographing the Comet and aware that exposures much longer than 20 seconds incurred the affect of star trail so instead of sharp dots for stars they became lines. Instead of a telephoto lens as per the Comet, for Aurora I used my widest lens, a Nikkor 28mm with a f2.8 widest aperture. Push processing the 400asa slide film at the lab by two stops to the equivalent of 1600asa I found that an exposure around 20 second eventually gave the best results for best colour saturation and exposure and giving the maximum control of grain without it appearing washed out from underexposure. I found that the pushed 400asa stock was finer grained than the RSP11 which was rated at 1600asa-it was later dropped by Fuji when Provia was introduced. This basic arrangement eventually worked best when I moved to a DSLR Fuji S2 in 2003 with an ISO of 1600 giving comparable results to the ASA equivalent and the noise factor was akin to the grain of slide film. As I shot my general landscape work using Fuji I stayed with it for the Aurora although Kodak film was acceptable in quality and results. I felt that the Fuji film handled the reds and greens better anyway and these are in practice the primary colours of Aurora displays when oxygen is excited by the incoming electrons. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Glen, Dye, Cairn, O’Mount, road, Heatheryhaugh, Clachnaben, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1989, September, December, slide, film, Fuji, RHP, RSP11, 400asa, 1600asa, 35mm, time, exposure, Nikon, FM2, wide, angle, lens, 28mm, 24mm, f2.8, scanned, scan, earliest, first, captured
Aurora Cairn O Mount au617120jhp 
 Scotland Aurora Borealis maximum bright strong display winter hills Boxing Day December Cairn O’Mount 1989 taken from just below the Cairn O’Mount on its North face and which looks northwards towards Deeside. This photo is from the fourth Aurora Display I photographed after my first one in September and the arc started to develop from 22.00 hrs UT onwards. I felt that the summit of the Cairn would be a good vantage point and offer uncluttered views northwards. It was a good light pollution free viewpoint but apart from an occasional passing car, headlights a headache during an exposure, I soon realised that it was along way to go and of course further south of and way from any displays. In some of the photos there are two small lights on the horizon which I reckoned were from a farm on the Hill of Fare several miles to the north. The single dark pole is a snow pole and on the side of the nearby hillside are snow fences. This display was a classic in terms of an Arc, waxing and waning until it reached a point of no return when single and then multiple burst upwards from the arc as well as moving quite rapidly from right to left; East to West. Generally the colour was a pale whitish/yellow colour with a hint of red in some of the rays.

The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about the first display I saw. Later tips helped until I started to park at a favourite viewpoint every clear night over the forthcoming years, the days before the Internet, and just watch the night sky.

I took Fuji RHP 400asa and RSP 11, rated at 1600ASA, the fastest available at the time in 35mm slide film of which this photo is an example and I tried both as well as bracketing exposures around the 20 second mark based on my experiences with photographing the Comet and aware that exposures much longer than that incurred the affect of star trail so instead of sharp dots for stars they became lines. Instead of a telephoto lens as per the Comet, for Aurora I used my widest lens, a Nikkor 28mm with a f2.8 widest aperture. Push processing the slide film at the Fuji lab by two stops to the equivalent of 1600asa I found that an exposure around 20 second eventually gave the best results for best colour saturation and exposure and giving the maximum control of grain without it appearing washed out from underexposure. This basic arrangement eventually worked best when I moved to a DSLR Fuji S2 in 2003 with an ISO of 1600 giving comparable results to the ASA equivalent and the noise factor was akin to the grain of slide film. As I shot my general landscape work using Fuji I stayed with it for the Aurora although Kodak film was acceptable in quality and results. I felt that the Fuji film handled the reds and greens better anyway and these are in practice the primary colours of Aurora displays when oxygen is excited by the incoming electrons. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Glen, Dye, Cairn, O’Mount, road, Heatheryhaugh, Clachnaben, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1989, September, December, Boxing, Day, slide, film, Fuji, RHP, RSP11, 400asa, 1600asa, 35mm, time, exposure, Nikon, FM2, wide, angle, lens, 28mm, 24mm, f2.8, scanned, scan, earliest, first, captured
Aurora Cairn O Mount au617119jhp 
 Scotland Aurora Borealis Boxing Day December rays bright Cairn O’Mount 1989 taken from just below the Cairn O’Mount on its North face and which looks northwards towards Deeside. This photo is from the fourth Aurora Display I photographed after my first one in September and the arc started to develop from 22.00 hrs UT onwards. I felt that the summit of the Cairn would be a good vantage point and offer uncluttered views northwards. It was a good light pollution free viewpoint but apart from an occasional passing car, headlights a headache during an exposure, I soon realised that it was along way to go and of course further south of and way from any displays. In some of the photos there are two small lights on the horizon which I reckoned were from a farm on the Hill of Fare several miles to the north. The single dark pole is a snow pole and on the side of the nearby hillside are snow fences. This display was a classic in terms of an Arc, waxing and waning until it reached a point of no return when single and then multiple burst upwards from the arc as well as moving quite rapidly from right to left; East to West. Generally the colour was a pale whitish/yellow colour with a hint of red in some of the rays.

The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about the first display I saw. Later tips helped until I started to park at a favourite viewpoint every clear night over the forthcoming years, the days before the Internet, and just watch the night sky.

I took Fuji RHP 400asa and RSP 11, rated at 1600ASA, the fastest available at the time in 35mm slide film of which this photo is an example and I tried both as well as bracketing exposures around the 20 second mark based on my experiences with photographing the Comet and aware that exposures much longer than that incurred the affect of star trail so instead of sharp dots for stars they became lines. Instead of a telephoto lens as per the Comet, for Aurora I used my widest lens, a Nikkor 28mm with a f2.8 widest aperture. Push processing the slide film at the Fuji lab by two stops to the equivalent of 1600asa I found that an exposure around 20 second eventually gave the best results for best colour saturation and exposure and giving the maximum control of grain without it appearing washed out from underexposure. This basic arrangement eventually worked best when I moved to a DSLR Fuji S2 in 2003 with an ISO of 1600 giving comparable results to the ASA equivalent and the noise factor was akin to the grain of slide film. As I shot my general landscape work using Fuji I stayed with it for the Aurora although Kodak film was acceptable in quality and results. I felt that the Fuji film handled the reds and greens better anyway and these are in practice the primary colours of Aurora displays when oxygen is excited by the incoming electrons. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Glen, Dye, Cairn, O’Mount, road, Heatheryhaugh, Clachnaben, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1989, September, December, Boxing, Day, slide, film, Fuji, RHP, RSP11, 400asa, 1600asa, 35mm, time, exposure, Nikon, FM2, wide, angle, lens, 28mm, 24mm, f2.8, scanned, scan, earliest, first, captured
Aurora Cairn O Mount au617118jhp 
 Scottish Aurora Borealis display Boxing Day west rays Cairn O’Mount 1989 taken from just below the Cairn O’Mount on its North face and which looks northwards towards Deeside. This photo is from the fourth Aurora Display I photographed after my first one in September and the arc started to develop from 22.00 hrs UT onwards. I felt that the summit of the Cairn would be a good vantage point and offer uncluttered views northwards. It was a good light pollution free viewpoint but apart from an occasional passing car, headlights a headache during an exposure, I soon realised that it was along way to go and of course further south of and way from any displays. In some of the photos there are two small lights on the horizon which I reckoned were from a farm on the Hill of Fare several miles to the north. The single dark pole is a snow pole and on the side of the nearby hillside are snow fences. This display was a classic in terms of an Arc, waxing and waning until it reached a point of no return when single and then multiple burst upwards from the arc as well as moving quite rapidly from right to left; East to West. Generally the colour was a pale whitish/yellow colour with a hint of red in some of the rays.

The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about the first display I saw. Later tips helped until I started to park at a favourite viewpoint every clear night over the forthcoming years, the days before the Internet, and just watch the night sky.

I took Fuji RHP 400asa and RSP 11, rated at 1600ASA, the fastest available at the time in 35mm slide film of which this photo is an example and I tried both as well as bracketing exposures around the 20 second mark based on my experiences with photographing the Comet and aware that exposures much longer than that incurred the affect of star trail so instead of sharp dots for stars they became lines. Instead of a telephoto lens as per the Comet, for Aurora I used my widest lens, a Nikkor 28mm with a f2.8 widest aperture. Push processing the slide film at the Fuji lab by two stops to the equivalent of 1600asa I found that an exposure around 20 second eventually gave the best results for best colour saturation and exposure and giving the maximum control of grain without it appearing washed out from underexposure. This basic arrangement eventually worked best when I moved to a DSLR Fuji S2 in 2003 with an ISO of 1600 giving comparable results to the ASA equivalent and the noise factor was akin to the grain of slide film. As I shot my general landscape work using Fuji I stayed with it for the Aurora although Kodak film was acceptable in quality and results. I felt that the Fuji film handled the reds and greens better anyway and these are in practice the primary colours of Aurora displays when oxygen is excited by the incoming electrons 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Glen, Dye, Cairn, O’Mount, road, Heatheryhaugh, Clachnaben, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, multiple, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1989, September, December, Boxing, Day, slide, film, Fuji, RHP, RSP11, 400asa, 1600asa, 35mm, time, exposure, Nikon, FM2, wide, angle, lens, 28mm, 24mm, f2.8, scanned, scan, earliest, first, captured
Aurora Cairn O Mount au617117jhp 
 Scotland Aurora Borealis moving ray red headlights Boxing Day Aberdeenshire December Cairn O’Mount 1989 taken from just below the Cairn O’Mount on its North face and which looks northwards towards Deeside. This photo is from the fourth Aurora Display I photographed after my first one in September and the arc started to develop from 22.00 hrs UT onwards. I felt that the summit of the Cairn would be a good vantage point and offer uncluttered views northwards. It was a good light pollution free viewpoint but apart from an occasional passing car, headlights a headache during an exposure, I soon realised that it was along way to go and of course further south of and way from any displays. In some of the photos there are two small lights on the horizon which I reckoned were from a farm on the Hill of Fare several miles to the north. The single dark pole is a snow pole and on the side of the nearby hillside are snow fences. This display was a classic in terms of an Arc, waxing and waning until it reached a point of no return when single and then multiple burst upwards from the arc as well as moving quite rapidly from right to left; East to West. Generally the colour was a pale whitish/yellow colour with a hint of red in some of the rays.

The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about the first display I saw. Later tips helped until I started to park at a favourite viewpoint every clear night over the forthcoming years, the days before the Internet, and just watch the night sky.

I took Fuji RHP 400asa and RSP 11, rated at 1600ASA, the fastest available at the time in 35mm slide film of which this photo is an example and I tried both as well as bracketing exposures around the 20 second mark based on my experiences with photographing the Comet and aware that exposures much longer than that incurred the affect of star trail so instead of sharp dots for stars they became lines. Instead of a telephoto lens as per the Comet, for Aurora I used my widest lens, a Nikkor 28mm with a f2.8 widest aperture. Push processing the slide film at the Fuji lab by two stops to the equivalent of 1600asa I found that an exposure around 20 second eventually gave the best results for best colour saturation and exposure and giving the maximum control of grain without it appearing washed out from underexposure. This basic arrangement eventually worked best when I moved to a DSLR Fuji S2 in 2003 with an ISO of 1600 giving comparable results to the ASA equivalent and the noise factor was akin to the grain of slide film. As I shot my general landscape work using Fuji I stayed with it for the Aurora although Kodak film was acceptable in quality and results. I felt that the Fuji film handled the reds and greens better anyway and these are in practice the primary colours of Aurora displays when oxygen is excited by the incoming electrons 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Glen, Dye, Cairn, O’Mount, road, Heatheryhaugh, Clachnaben, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1989, September, December, Boxing, Day, slide, film, Fuji, RHP, RSP11, 400asa, 1600asa, 35mm, time, exposure, Nikon, FM2, wide, angle, lens, 28mm, 24mm, f2.8, scanned, scan, earliest, first, captured
Aurora Cairn O Mount au617115jhp 
 Scotland Northern Lights multiple rays arc red yellow display 1989 Boxing Day December Cairn O’Mount taken from just below the Cairn O’Mount on its North face and which looks northwards towards Deeside. This photo is from the fourth Aurora Display I photographed after my first one in September and the arc started to develop from 22.00 hrs UT onwards. I felt that the summit of the Cairn would be a good vantage point and offer uncluttered views northwards. It was a good light pollution free viewpoint but apart from an occasional passing car, headlights a headache during an exposure, I soon realised that it was along way to go and of course further south of and way from any displays. In some of the photos there are two small lights on the horizon which I reckoned were from a farm on the Hill of Fare several miles to the north. The single dark pole is a snow pole and on the side of the nearby hillside are snow fences. This display was a classic in terms of an Arc, waxing and waning until it reached a point of no return when single and then multiple burst upwards from the arc as well as moving quite rapidly from right to left; East to West. Generally the colour was a pale whitish/yellow colour with a hint of red in some of the rays.

The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about the first display I saw. Later tips helped until I started to park at a favourite viewpoint every clear night over the forthcoming years, the days before the Internet, and just watch the night sky.

I took Fuji RHP 400asa and RSP 11, rated at 1600ASA, the fastest available at the time in 35mm slide film of which this photo is an example and I tried both as well as bracketing exposures around the 20 second mark based on my experiences with photographing the Comet and aware that exposures much longer than that incurred the affect of star trail so instead of sharp dots for stars they became lines. Instead of a telephoto lens as per the Comet, for Aurora I used my widest lens, a Nikkor 28mm with a f2.8 widest aperture. Push processing the slide film at the Fuji lab by two stops to the equivalent of 1600asa I found that an exposure around 20 second eventually gave the best results for best colour saturation and exposure and giving the maximum control of grain without it appearing washed out from underexposure. This basic arrangement eventually worked best when I moved to a DSLR Fuji S2 in 2003 with an ISO of 1600 giving comparable results to the ASA equivalent and the noise factor was akin to the grain of slide film. As I shot my general landscape work using Fuji I stayed with it for the Aurora although Kodak film was acceptable in quality and results. I felt that the Fuji film handled the reds and greens better anyway and these are in practice the primary colours of Aurora displays when oxygen is excited by the incoming electrons. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Glen, Dye, Cairn, O’Mount, road, Heatheryhaugh, Clachnaben, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1989, September, December, Boxing, Day, slide, film, Fuji, RHP, RSP11, 400asa, 1600asa, 35mm, time, exposure, Nikon, FM2, wide, angle, lens, 28mm, 24mm, f2.8, scanned, scan, earliest, first, captured
Aurora Cairn O Mount au617114jhp 
 Scotland Aurora Borealis several rays moving arc hill starting display Boxing Day December Cairn O’Mount 1989 taken from just below the Cairn O’Mount on its North face and which looks northwards towards Deeside. This photo is from the fourth Aurora Display I photographed after my first one in September and the arc started to develop from 22.00 hrs UT onwards. I felt that the summit of the Cairn would be a good vantage point and offer uncluttered views northwards. It was a good light pollution free viewpoint but apart from an occasional passing car, headlights a headache during an exposure, I soon realised that it was along way to go and of course further south of and way from any displays. In some of the photos there are two small lights on the horizon which I reckoned were from a farm on the Hill of Fare several miles to the north. The single dark pole is a snow pole and on the side of the nearby hillside are snow fences. This display was a classic in terms of an Arc, waxing and waning until it reached a point of no return when single and then multiple burst upwards from the arc as well as moving quite rapidly from right to left; East to West. Generally the colour was a pale whitish/yellow colour with a hint of red in some of the rays.

The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about the first display I saw. Later tips helped until I started to park at a favourite viewpoint every clear night over the forthcoming years, the days before the Internet, and just watch the night sky.

I took Fuji RHP 400asa and RSP 11, rated at 1600ASA, the fastest available at the time in 35mm slide film of which this photo is an example and I tried both as well as bracketing exposures around the 20 second mark based on my experiences with photographing the Comet and aware that exposures much longer than that incurred the affect of star trail so instead of sharp dots for stars they became lines. Instead of a telephoto lens as per the Comet, for Aurora I used my widest lens, a Nikkor 28mm with a f2.8 widest aperture. Push processing the slide film at the Fuji lab by two stops to the equivalent of 1600asa I found that an exposure around 20 second eventually gave the best results for best colour saturation and exposure and giving the maximum control of grain without it appearing washed out from underexposure. This basic arrangement eventually worked best when I moved to a DSLR Fuji S2 in 2003 with an ISO of 1600 giving comparable results to the ASA equivalent and the noise factor was akin to the grain of slide film. As I shot my general landscape work using Fuji I stayed with it for the Aurora although Kodak film was acceptable in quality and results. I felt that the Fuji film handled the reds and greens better anyway and these are in practice the primary colours of Aurora displays when oxygen is excited by the incoming electrons. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Glen, Dye, Cairn, O’Mount, road, Heatheryhaugh, Clachnaben, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1989, September, December, Boxing, Day, slide, film, Fuji, RHP, RSP11, 400asa, 1600asa, 35mm, time, exposure, Nikon, FM2, wide, angle, lens, 28mm, 24mm, f2.8, scanned, scan, earliest, first, captured
Aurora Cairn O Mount au617113jhp 
 Scottish Aurora Borealis early stage arc active Cairn O'Mount rays display Boxing Day December 1989 taken from just below the Cairn O’Mount on its North face and which looks northwards towards Deeside. This photo is from the fourth Aurora Display I photographed after my first one in September and the arc started to develop from 22.00 hrs UT onwards. I felt that the summit of the Cairn would be a good vantage point and offer uncluttered views northwards. It was a good light pollution free viewpoint but apart from an occasional passing car, headlights a headache during an exposure, I soon realised that it was along way to go and of course further south of and way from any displays. In some of the photos there are two small lights on the horizon which I reckoned were from a farm on the Hill of Fare several miles to the north. The single dark pole is a snow pole and on the side of the nearby hillside are snow fences. This display was a classic in terms of an Arc, waxing and waning until it reached a point of no return when single and then multiple burst upwards from the arc as well as moving quite rapidly from right to left; East to West. Generally the colour was a pale whitish/yellow colour with a hint of red in some of the rays.

The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about the first display I saw. Later tips helped until I started to park at a favourite viewpoint every clear night over the forthcoming years, the days before the Internet, and just watch the night sky.

I took Fuji RHP 400asa and RSP 11, rated at 1600ASA, the fastest available at the time in 35mm slide film of which this photo is an example and I tried both as well as bracketing exposures around the 20 second mark based on my experiences with photographing the Comet and aware that exposures much longer than that incurred the affect of star trail so instead of sharp dots for stars they became lines. Instead of a telephoto lens as per the Comet, for Aurora I used my widest lens, a Nikkor 28mm with a f2.8 widest aperture. Push processing the slide film at the Fuji lab by two stops to the equivalent of 1600asa I found that an exposure around 20 second eventually gave the best results for best colour saturation and exposure and giving the maximum control of grain without it appearing washed out from underexposure. This basic arrangement eventually worked best when I moved to a DSLR Fuji S2 in 2003 with an ISO of 1600 giving comparable results to the ASA equivalent and the noise factor was akin to the grain of slide film. As I shot my general landscape work using Fuji I stayed with it for the Aurora although Kodak film was acceptable in quality and results. I felt that the Fuji film handled the reds and greens better anyway and these are in practice the primary colours of Aurora displays when oxygen is excited by the incoming electrons. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Glen, Dye, Cairn, O’Mount, road, Heatheryhaugh, Clachnaben, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1989, September, December, Boxing, Day, slide, film, Fuji, RHP, RSP11, 400asa, 1600asa, 35mm, time, exposure, Nikon, FM2, wide, angle, lens, 28mm, 24mm, f2.8, scanned, scan, earliest, first, captured
Aurora Cairn O Mount au617111jhp 
 Scotland Aurora Borealis arc start display Aberdeenshire Jim Henderson Photograph Boxing Day December Cairn O’Mount 1989 taken from just below the Cairn O’Mount on its North face and which looks northwards towards Deeside. This photo is from the fourth Aurora Display I photographed after my first one in September and the arc started to develop from 22.00 hrs UT onwards. I felt that the summit of the Cairn would be a good vantage point and offer uncluttered views northwards. It was a good light pollution free viewpoint but apart from an occasional passing car, headlights a headache during an exposure, I soon realised that it was along way to go and of course further south of and way from any displays. In some of the photos there are two small lights on the horizon which I reckoned were from a farm on the Hill of Fare several miles to the north. The single dark pole is a snow pole and on the side of the nearby hillside are snow fences. This display was a classic in terms of an Arc, waxing and waning until it reached a point of no return when single and then multiple burst upwards from the arc as well as moving quite rapidly from right to left; East to West. Generally the colour was a pale whitish/yellow colour with a hint of red in some of the rays.

The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about the first display I saw. Later tips helped until I started to park at a favourite viewpoint every clear night over the forthcoming years, the days before the Internet, and just watch the night sky.

I took Fuji RHP 400asa and RSP 11, rated at 1600ASA, the fastest available at the time in 35mm slide film of which this photo is an example and I tried both as well as bracketing exposures around the 20 second mark based on my experiences with photographing the Comet and aware that exposures much longer than that incurred the affect of star trail so instead of sharp dots for stars they became lines. Instead of a telephoto lens as per the Comet, for Aurora I used my widest lens, a Nikkor 28mm with a f2.8 widest aperture. Push processing the slide film at the Fuji lab by two stops to the equivalent of 1600asa I found that an exposure around 20 second eventually gave the best results for best colour saturation and exposure and giving the maximum control of grain without it appearing washed out from underexposure. This basic arrangement eventually worked best when I moved to a DSLR Fuji S2 in 2003 with an ISO of 1600 giving comparable results to the ASA equivalent and the noise factor was akin to the grain of slide film. As I shot my general landscape work using Fuji I stayed with it for the Aurora although Kodak film was acceptable in quality and results. I felt that the Fuji film handled the reds and greens better anyway and these are in practice the primary colours of Aurora displays when oxygen is excited by the incoming electrons. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Glen, Dye, Cairn, O’Mount, road, Heatheryhaugh, Clachnaben, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1989, September, December, Boxing, Day, slide, film, Fuji, RHP, RSP11, 400asa, 1600asa, 35mm, time, exposure, Nikon, FM2, wide, angle, lens, 28mm, 24mm, f2.8, scanned, scan, earliest, first, captured
Aurora Glen Dye au61065jhp 
 Scotland Aurora Borealis display Clachnaben hill torr Glen Dye autumn September 1989 taken from Heatheryhaugh just above steep climb out of Glen Dye on the road to the Cairn O’Mount and which looks across to Clachnaben, the notable hill with a tor rocky outcrop which makes it visible from much of Deeside when looking south. This photo is one of the first I took of an Aurora display and came just after midnight when clouds cleared and made the stars and night sky visible. The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about the display captured here.

I took Fuji RHP 400asa and RSP 11, rated at 1600ASA, the fastest available at the time in 35mm slide film of which this photo is an example and I tried both as well as bracketing exposures around the 20 second mark based on my experiences with photographing the Comet. Instead of a telephoto lens as per the Comet, for Aurora I used my widest lens, a Nikkor 28mm with a f2.8 widest aperture. Push processing the slide film at the Fuji lab by two stops to the equivalent of 1600asa I found that an exposure around 20 second eventually gave the best results for best colour saturation and exposure and giving the maximum control of grain without it appearing washed out from underexposure. This basic arrangement eventually worked best when I moved to a DSLR Fuji S2 in 2003 with an ISO of 1600 giving comparable results to the ASA equivalent and the noise factor was akin to the grain of slide film. As I shot my general landscape work using Fuji I stayed with it for the Aurora although Kodak film was acceptable in quality and results. I felt that the Fuji film handled the reds and greens better anyway and these are in practice the primary colours of Aurora displays when oxygen is excited by the incoming electrons. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Glen, Dye, Cairn, O’Mount, road, Heatheryhaugh, Clachnaben, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, upright, landscape, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1989, September, December, Boxing, Day, slide, film, Fuji, RHP, RSP11, 400asa, 1600asa, 35mm, time, exposure, Nikon, FM2, wide, angle, lens, 28mm, 24mm, f2.8, scanned, scan, earliest, first, captured
Aurora Glen Dye au610615jhp 
 Scottish Aurora Borealis Glen Dye red purple gas September 1989 slide film taken from Heatheryhaugh just above steep climb out of Glen Dye on the road to the Cairn O’Mount and which looks across to Clachnaben, the notable hill with a tor rocky outcrop which makes it visible from much of Deeside when looking south. This photo is one of the first I took of an Aurora display and came just after midnight when clouds cleared and made the stars and night sky visible. The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about the display captured here.

I took Fuji RHP 400asa and RSP 11, rated at 1600ASA, the fastest available at the time in 35mm slide film of which this photo is an example and I tried both as well as bracketing exposures around the 20 second mark based on my experiences with photographing the Comet. Instead of a telephoto lens as per the Comet, for Aurora I used my widest lens, a Nikkor 28mm with a f2.8 widest aperture. Push processing the slide film at the Fuji lab by two stops to the equivalent of 1600asa I found that an exposure around 20 second eventually gave the best results for best colour saturation and exposure and giving the maximum control of grain without it appearing washed out from underexposure. This basic arrangement eventually worked best when I moved to a DSLR Fuji S2 in 2003 with an ISO of 1600 giving comparable results to the ASA equivalent and the noise factor was akin to the grain of slide film. As I shot my general landscape work using Fuji I stayed with it for the Aurora although Kodak film was acceptable in quality and results. I felt that the Fuji film handled the reds and greens better anyway and these are in practice the primary colours of Aurora displays when oxygen is excited by the incoming electrons. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Glen, Dye, Cairn, O’Mount, road, Heatheryhaugh, Clachnaben, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1989, September, December, Boxing, Day, slide, film, Fuji, RHP, RSP11, 400asa, 1600asa, 35mm, time, exposure, Nikon, FM2, wide, angle, lens, 28mm, 24mm, f2.8, scanned, scan, earliest, first, captured
Aurora Glen Dye au610613jhp 
 Scotland Aurora Borealis red display Glen Dye earliest first autumn September 1989 taken from Heatheryhaugh just above steep climb out of Glen Dye on the road to the Cairn O’Mount and which looks across to Clachnaben, the notable hill with a tor rocky outcrop which makes it visible from much of Deeside when looking south. This photo is one of the first I took of an Aurora display and came just after midnight when clouds cleared and made the stars and night sky visible. The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about the display captured here.

I took Fuji RHP 400asa and RSP 11, rated at 1600ASA, the fastest available at the time in 35mm slide film of which this photo is an example and I tried both as well as bracketing exposures around the 20 second mark based on my experiences with photographing the Comet. Instead of a telephoto lens as per the Comet, for Aurora I used my widest lens, a Nikkor 28mm with a f2.8 widest aperture. Push processing the slide film at the Fuji lab by two stops to the equivalent of 1600asa I found that an exposure around 20 second eventually gave the best results for best colour saturation and exposure and giving the maximum control of grain without it appearing washed out from underexposure. This basic arrangement eventually worked best when I moved to a DSLR Fuji S2 in 2003 with an ISO of 1600 giving comparable results to the ASA equivalent and the noise factor was akin to the grain of slide film. As I shot my general landscape work using Fuji I stayed with it for the Aurora although Kodak film was acceptable in quality and results. I felt that the Fuji film handled the reds and greens better anyway and these are in practice the primary colours of Aurora displays when oxygen is excited by the incoming electrons. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Glen, Dye, Cairn, O’Mount, road, Heatheryhaugh, Clachnaben, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1989, September, December, Boxing, Day, slide, film, Fuji, RHP, RSP11, 400asa, 1600asa, 35mm, time, exposure, Nikon, FM2, wide, angle, lens, 28mm, 24mm, f2.8, scanned, scan, earliest, first, captured
Aurora Glen Dye au610612jhp 
 Scottish Aurora Borealis display Plough stars Glen Dye Aberdeenshire first autumn September 1989 taken from Heatheryhaugh just above steep climb out of Glen Dye on the road to the Cairn O’Mount and which looks across to Clachnaben, the notable hill with a tor rocky outcrop which makes it visible from much of Deeside when looking south. This photo is one of the first I took of an Aurora display and came just after midnight when clouds cleared and made the stars and night sky visible. The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about the display captured here.

I took Fuji RHP 400asa and RSP 11, rated at 1600ASA, the fastest available at the time in 35mm slide film of which this photo is an example and I tried both as well as bracketing exposures around the 20 second mark based on my experiences with photographing the Comet. Instead of a telephoto lens as per the Comet, for Aurora I used my widest lens, a Nikkor 28mm with a f2.8 widest aperture. Push processing the slide film at the Fuji lab by two stops to the equivalent of 1600asa I found that an exposure around 20 second eventually gave the best results for best colour saturation and exposure and giving the maximum control of grain without it appearing washed out from underexposure. This basic arrangement eventually worked best when I moved to a DSLR Fuji S2 in 2003 with an ISO of 1600 giving comparable results to the ASA equivalent and the noise factor was akin to the grain of slide film. As I shot my general landscape work using Fuji I stayed with it for the Aurora although Kodak film was acceptable in quality and results. I felt that the Fuji film handled the reds and greens better anyway and these are in practice the primary colours of Aurora displays when oxygen is excited by the incoming electrons. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Glen, Dye, Cairn, O’Mount, road, Heatheryhaugh, Clachnaben, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1989, September, December, Boxing, Day, slide, film, Fuji, RHP, RSP11, 400asa, 1600asa, 35mm, time, exposure, Nikon, FM2, wide, angle, lens, 28mm, 24mm, f2.8, scanned, scan, earliest, first, captured
Aurora Glen Dye au610611jhp 
 Scotland Northern Lights Ursa Major red rays display Glen Dye earliest first autumn September 1989 taken from Heatheryhaugh just above steep climb out of Glen Dye on the road to the Cairn O’Mount and which looks across to Clachnaben, the notable hill with a tor rocky outcrop which makes it visible from much of Deeside when looking south. This photo is one of the first I took of an Aurora display and came just after midnight when clouds cleared and made the stars and night sky visible. The project to photograph an Aurora came after a missed opportunity earlier in the year in March with what became known as the Big Aurora, a full Corona over Deeside. I had got the idea of trying to photograph a display following on from my success in 1986 of capturing Halley’s Comet thanks to the support of the Astronomy Ian Shepherd at the Edinburgh Observatory. I had heard about the Big Aurora but had missed the display buried away in my darkroom processing B&W photos for the local newspaper. Ian suggested I contact John MacNicol, President of the Aberdeen Astronomy Society and he eventually tipped me off about the display captured here.

I took Fuji RHP 400asa and RSP 11, rated at 1600ASA, the fastest available at the time in 35mm slide film of which this photo is an example and I tried both as well as bracketing exposures around the 20 second mark based on my experiences with photographing the Comet. Instead of a telephoto lens as per the Comet, for Aurora I used my widest lens, a Nikkor 28mm with a f2.8 widest aperture. Push processing the slide film at the Fuji lab by two stops to the equivalent of 1600asa I found that an exposure around 20 second eventually gave the best results for best colour saturation and exposure and giving the maximum control of grain without it appearing washed out from underexposure. This basic arrangement eventually worked best when I moved to a DSLR Fuji S2 in 2003 with an ISO of 1600 giving comparable results to the ASA equivalent and the noise factor was akin to the grain of slide film. As I shot my general landscape work using Fuji I stayed with it for the Aurora although Kodak film was acceptable in quality and results. I felt that the Fuji film handled the reds and greens better anyway and these are in practice the primary colours of Aurora displays when oxygen is excited by the incoming electrons. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, British, North, Northern, East, Aberdeenshire, Royal, Deeside, Glen, Dye, Cairn, O’Mount, road, Heatheryhaugh, Clachnaben, Aurora, Borealis, Arc, Rays, Northern, Lights, Merry Dancers, landscape, photos, photographs, sunspots, solar, flares, CME, electrons, photons, storms, energy, sun, stars, oxygen, gas, Van, Allen, belt, ionosphere, flares, space, molecules, magnetic, disturbance, magnetometers, belts, radiation, purple, red, green, yellow, pink, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, colours, colors, moon, whirls, celestial, clouds, nature, dark, nights, night-time, forest, 1989, September, December, Boxing, Day, slide, film, Fuji, RHP, RSP11, 400asa, 1600asa, 35mm, time, exposure, Nikon, FM2, wide, angle, lens, 28mm, 24mm, f2.8, scanned, scan, earliest, first, captured

Egypt > River Nile Cruise & Sites (2 files)

Photographs in this gallery show daily life along the River Nile mainly from the cruises I have undertaken over the past 10 years or so. Sites that border the Nile are included although the major temples visted have their own dedicated sites such as Edfu and Kom Ombo. One of the enjoyments of the Nile cruise is the tranquility of watching 'life go by' usually characterised by the friendliness of those you pass whether boatmen or farm workers as well as seeing wild birds close at hand. The other aspect is the service on the cruiseboats from friendly crews and the chance to relax after hectic and often crowded temple visits.
River Nile Shepherding EG052397JHP 
 Egypt Egyptian River Nile Sheep Shepherding Rural Riverbank Cruising Photograph the journey from Luxor to Aswan by cruiseboat offers a peaceful way to see modern day Egyptian life that occurs along the banks of this historic major African river and which still plays an important part in the wealth of Egypt and in the lives of ordinary Egyptians today just as it has over the past 5000 years or so. 
 Keywords: Egypt, Egyptian, Modern, West, East, Bank, River, Nile, riverbank, fields, grass, crops, sheep, flock, shepherd, shepherding, daily, life, cruise, view, cruising, upright
River Nile Shepherd & Flock EG052396JHP 
 Egypt Egyptian River Nile Sheep Flock Shepherd Riverbank Cruise Photo the journey from Luxor to Aswan by cruiseboat offers a peaceful way to see modern day Egyptian life that occurs along the banks of this historic major African river and which still plays an important part in the wealth of Egypt and in the lives of ordinary Egyptians today just as it has over the past 5000 years or so. 
 Keywords: Egypt, Egyptian, Modern, West, East, Bank, River, Nile, riverbank, fields, grass, crops, sheep, flock, shepherd, daily, life, cruise, view, cruising, landscape

Scotland > Ancient Stones (6 files)

The gallery has photos of ancient Scottish sites such as recumbent stone circles, stone circles, long cairns, Pictish carvings and early fortifications including Tap ONoth, Bennachie, Kinord, and most of the following:
Aikey Brae RSC; Balquhain Stone Circle; Brandsbutt Stone; Broomend of Crichie Henge and Pictish Symbol Stone; Castle Fraser Stone Circle; Consumption Dykes, Kingswells; Corsedarder Memorial; Cothiemuir Wood RSC; Craigearn Standing Stone; Craw Stane, Rhynie; Cullerlie Stone Circle; Culsh earthhouse or souterrain; Easter Aquthorthies RSC; Eslie the Greater RSC; Eslie the Lessler RSC; Garrol Wood RSC; Glassel Stone Circle; Kinord Cross; Kirkton of Bourtie RSC; Loanhead of Daviot RSC; Long Cairn, Corsedarder; Maidenstone Symbol Stone; Mid Mar Stone Circle; Nine Staines RSC; Picardy Pictish Symbol Stone; Strichen RSC; Sueno Stone, Forres; Sunhoney RSC; Tomnaverie RSC;

South Leylodge Stones jkl8124jhp 
 South Leylodge Recumbent Flankers Stone Circle Kintore Aberdeenshire bronze Age historic ruined monument in a field [NJ766132] to the North of the dead end slip road signed Lauchintilly off the B977 Dunecht to Kintore Road. Only the flankers and recumbent appear to be left although there are several single standing stones in nearby fields, possibly monoliths from the original RSC but now useful scratching posts for cattle. Also called the South Ley Lodge RSC per Aubrey Burl’s book ref No: 98 P353 for his details regarding the site. Ian Shepherd in Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Grampian suggests on page 145 that it might be an example of a RSC that was only that-the flankers and the recumbent and the rest of the circle was never completed. The point was also made that these stones were the first built as the largest and most important although this idea is somewhat contradicted in later studies made at Tomnaverie where these stones are thought to have been added as the final stage of closing out the monument. Ref: the moon and the bonfire, Chapter 5 by Professor Richard Bradley. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, Grampian, Aberdeenshire, Donside, Kintore, Leylodge, South, Ley, Lodge, Lauchintilly, Bennachie, Recumbent, Stone, Circle, Ring, Cairn, ellipse, elliptical, DSLR, landscape, history, Bronze, Age, ancient, archaeology, ancestors, neolithic, excavation, bone, radiocarbon, dating, monument, stones, altar, flankers, monoliths, sockets, uprights, kerb, radials, monolith, hilltop, cemetery, sacrifice, cremation, burial, cult, quartz, granite, tribe, antiquity, leader, generation, death, ceremony, construction, primitive, community, field, territorial, marker, clearances, ritual, rural, nature, astronomical, seasons, moon, lunar, stellar, sunset, sunrise, cyclical, cycles, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, peaceful, quiet, sun, sunshine, grass, green, blue, white, farming, agriculture, countryside, wild, autumn, electric, pylons, clouds, streaking, blue, sky, winter
South Leylodge Stones jkl8123jhp 
 South Ley Lodge Recumbent Standing Stones Circle Flanker Kintore Aberdeenshire prehistoric ruined monument in a field [NJ766132] to the North of the dead end slip road signed Lauchintilly off the B977 Dunecht to Kintore Road. Only the flankers and recumbent appear to be left although there are several single standing stones in nearby fields, possibly monoliths from the original RSC but now useful scratching posts for cattle. Also called the South Ley Lodge RSC per Aubrey Burl’s book ref No: 98 P353 for his details regarding the site. Ian Shepherd in Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Grampian suggests on page 145 that it might be an example of a RSC that was only that-the flankers and the recumbent and the rest of the circle was never completed. The point was also made that these stones were the first built as the largest and most important although this idea is somewhat contradicted in later studies made at Tomnaverie where these stones are thought to have been added as the final stage of closing out the monument. Ref: the moon and the bonfire, Chapter 5 by Professor Richard Bradley. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, Grampian, Aberdeenshire, Donside, Kintore, Leylodge, South, Ley, Lodge, Lauchintilly, Bennachie, Recumbent, Stone, Circle, Ring, Cairn, ellipse, elliptical, DSLR, landscape, history, Bronze, Age, ancient, archaeology, ancestors, neolithic, excavation, bone, radiocarbon, dating, monument, stones, altar, flankers, monoliths, sockets, uprights, kerb, radials, monolith, hilltop, cemetery, sacrifice, cremation, burial, cult, quartz, granite, tribe, antiquity, leader, generation, death, ceremony, construction, primitive, community, field, territorial, marker, clearances, ritual, rural, nature, astronomical, seasons, moon, lunar, stellar, sunset, sunrise, cyclical, cycles, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, peaceful, quiet, sun, sunshine, grass, green, blue, white, farming, agriculture, countryside, wild, autumn, electric, pylons, clouds, streaking, blue, sky, winter
South Leylodge Stones jkl8122jhp 
 South Leylodge Standing Stone Stones Circle Kintore Scottish winter Aberdeenshire prehistoric ruined monument in a field [NJ766132] to the North of the dead end slip road signed Lauchintilly off the B977 Dunecht to Kintore Road. Only the flankers and recumbent appear to be left although there are several single standing stones in nearby fields, possibly monoliths from the original RSC but now useful scratching posts for cattle. Also called the South Ley Lodge RSC per Aubrey Burl’s book ref No: 98 P353 for his details regarding the site. Ian Shepherd in Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Grampian suggests on page 145 that it might be an example of a RSC that was only that-the flankers and the recumbent and the rest of the circle was never completed. The point was also made that these stones were the first built as the largest and most important although this idea is somewhat contradicted in later studies made at Tomnaverie where these stones are thought to have been added as the final stage of closing out the monument. Ref: the moon and the bonfire, Chapter 5 by Professor Richard Bradley. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, Grampian, Aberdeenshire, Donside, Kintore, Leylodge, South, Ley, Lodge, Lauchintilly, Bennachie, Recumbent, Stone, Circle, Ring, Cairn, ellipse, elliptical, DSLR, landscape, history, Bronze, Age, ancient, archaeology, ancestors, neolithic, excavation, bone, radiocarbon, dating, monument, stones, altar, flankers, monoliths, sockets, uprights, kerb, radials, monolith, hilltop, cemetery, sacrifice, cremation, burial, cult, quartz, granite, tribe, antiquity, leader, generation, death, ceremony, construction, primitive, community, field, territorial, marker, clearances, ritual, rural, nature, astronomical, seasons, moon, lunar, stellar, sunset, sunrise, cyclical, cycles, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, peaceful, quiet, sun, sunshine, grass, green, blue, white, farming, agriculture, countryside, wild, autumn, electric, pylons, clouds, streaking, blue, sky, winter
South Leylodge Stones jkl8121jhp 
 South Ley Lodge Recumbent Standing Stones monolith winter Circle Kintore Aberdeenshire prehistoric ruined monument in a field [NJ766132] to the North of the dead end slip road signed Lauchintilly off the B977 Dunecht to Kintore Road. Only the flankers and recumbent appear to be left although there are several single standing stones in nearby fields, possibly monoliths from the original RSC but now useful scratching posts for cattle. Also called the South Ley Lodge RSC per Aubrey Burl’s book ref No: 98 P353 for his details regarding the site. Ian Shepherd in Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Grampian suggests on page 145 that it might be an example of a RSC that was only that-the flankers and the recumbent and the rest of the circle was never completed. The point was also made that these stones were the first built as the largest and most important although this idea is somewhat contradicted in later studies made at Tomnaverie where these stones are thought to have been added as the final stage of closing out the monument. Ref: the moon and the bonfire, Chapter 5 by Professor Richard Bradley. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, Grampian, Aberdeenshire, Donside, Kintore, Leylodge, South, Ley, Lodge, Lauchintilly, Bennachie, Recumbent, Stone, Circle, Ring, Cairn, ellipse, elliptical, DSLR, landscape, silhouette, history, Bronze, Age, ancient, archaeology, ancestors, neolithic, excavation, bone, radiocarbon, dating, monument, stones, altar, flankers, monoliths, sockets, uprights, kerb, radials, monolith, hilltop, cemetery, sacrifice, cremation, burial, cult, quartz, granite, tribe, antiquity, leader, generation, death, ceremony, construction, primitive, community, field, territorial, marker, clearances, ritual, rural, nature, astronomical, seasons, moon, lunar, stellar, sunset, sunrise, cyclical, cycles, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, peaceful, quiet, sun, sunshine, grass, green, blue, white, farming, agriculture, countryside, wild, autumn, electric, pylons, clouds, streaking, blue, sky, winter
South Leylodge Stones jkl8120jhp 
 South Leylodge Recumbent Stone Circle Kintore Aberdeenshire Scotland prehistoric ruined monument in a field [NJ766132] to the North of the dead end slip road signed Lauchintilly off the B977 Dunecht to Kintore Road. Only the flankers and recumbent appear to be left although there are several single standing stones in nearby fields, possibly monoliths from the original RSC but now useful scratching posts for cattle. Also called the South Ley Lodge RSC per Aubrey Burl’s book ref No: 98 P353 for his details regarding the site. Ian Shepherd in Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Grampian suggests on page 145 that it might be an example of a RSC that was only that-the flankers and the recumbent and the rest of the circle was never completed. The point was also made that these stones were the first built as the largest and most important although this idea is somewhat contradicted in later studies made at Tomnaverie where these stones are thought to have been added as the final stage of closing out the monument. Ref: the moon and the bonfire, Chapter 5 by Professor Richard Bradley. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, Grampian, Aberdeenshire, Donside, Kintore, Leylodge, South, Ley, Lodge, Lauchintilly, Bennachie, Recumbent, Stone, Circle, Ring, Cairn, ellipse, elliptical, DSLR, upright, history, Bronze, Age, ancient, archaeology, ancestors, neolithic, excavation, bone, radiocarbon, dating, monument, stones, altar, flankers, monoliths, sockets, uprights, kerb, radials, monolith, hilltop, cemetery, sacrifice, cremation, burial, cult, quartz, granite, tribe, antiquity, leader, generation, death, ceremony, construction, primitive, community, field, territorial, marker, clearances, ritual, rural, nature, astronomical, seasons, moon, lunar, stellar, sunset, sunrise, cyclical, cycles, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, peaceful, quiet, sun, sunshine, grass, green, blue, white, farming, agriculture, countryside, wild, autumn, electric, pylons, clouds, streaking, blue, sky, winter
South Leylodge Stones jkl8119jhp 
 South Leylodge Recumbent Standing Stone Stones Circle Kintore Aberdeenshire prehistoric ruined monument in a field [NJ766132] to the North of the dead end slip road signed Lauchintilly off the B977 Dunecht to Kintore Road. Only the flankers and recumbent appear to be left although there are several single standing stones in nearby fields, possibly monoliths from the original RSC but now useful scratching posts for cattle. Also called the South Ley Lodge RSC per Aubrey Burl’s book ref No: 98 P353 for his details regarding the site. Ian Shepherd in Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Grampian suggests on page 145 that it might be an example of a RSC that was only that-the flankers and the recumbent and the rest of the circle was never completed. The point was also made that these stones were the first built as the largest and most important although this idea is somewhat contradicted in later studies made at Tomnaverie where these stones are thought to have been added as the final stage of closing out the monument. Ref: the moon and the bonfire, Chapter 5 by Professor Richard Bradley. 
 Keywords: Scotland, Scottish, Grampian, Aberdeenshire, Donside, Kintore, Leylodge, South, Ley, Lodge, Lauchintilly, Bennachie, Recumbent, Stone, Circle, Ring, Cairn, ellipse, elliptical, DSLR, landscape, history, Bronze, Age, ancient, archaeology, ancestors, neolithic, excavation, bone, radiocarbon, dating, monument, stones, altar, flankers, monoliths, sockets, uprights, kerb, radials, monolith, hilltop, cemetery, sacrifice, cremation, burial, cult, quartz, granite, tribe, antiquity, leader, generation, death, ceremony, construction, primitive, community, field, territorial, marker, clearances, ritual, rural, nature, astronomical, seasons, moon, lunar, stellar, sunset, sunrise, cyclical, cycles, colourful, colorful, coloured, colored, peaceful, quiet, sun, sunshine, grass, green, blue, white, farming, agriculture, countryside, wild, autumn, electric, pylons, clouds, streaking, blue, sky, winter

Click below to purchase all images shown (you can fine-tune on next page):