April 2006
Aurora Gallery

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Summary: The interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) tilted south on April 8th and 9th, opening a crack in Earth's magnetic defenses. Solar wind flowed in and sparked an unexpected display of auroras, the second time this month!

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Unless otherwise stated, all images are copyrighted by the photographers.


  Photographer, Location Images Comments

Justin Glasener,
Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, USA
Apr. 09
#1, #2

The green halo quickly erupted into arcs and ribbons at around 0100 local time and lasted throughout the night. A beautiful spring show! Photo details: Nikon CP5400, 400 ASA, 8-12 second exposures.

Gilles Boutin,
St-Vallier near to Quebec city Canada
Apr. 09
#1, #2, #3, #4, more

This aurora borealis with purple colors over St-Vallier ( Quebec ) captured in april 9 2006 at 4 h 40 am after a painful hunting through a very cloudy night Pentax istDS www.banditdenuit.com

Tony Wilder,
Chippewa Falls, WI
Apr. 08
#1, #2, #3, #4

WHAT A NIGHT! Starting as a green halo over the horizon and ending in a grand finale dancing from east to west and straight overhead. 23F and ice still covering the Lake. Moon almost 80% full so only 12 second expsures at ISO 200 F1.8. Canon EOS Rebel XT. I am ready for a night off. I'm getting too old for this.

Michael Gavan,
Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA
Apr. 09
#1

Some fleeting auroras tonight! Good thing I checked spaceweather.com at about 2 am to notice the IMF take a dive south. Unfortunately i saw the best auroras from my car as I drove to a darker location. I was initially able to see them through the city lights with plenty of moonshine. By the time I arrived at one of my favorite dark spots the auroras had faded and receded north. I couldn't see them but luckily the camera could! Canon Digital Rebel ISO 800 25 sec.

Darrell Spangler,
Drake, Colorado
Apr. 09
#1

Just before 5:00am local time I noticed an unusual brightening in the northern sky behind the clouds. While no structure or dramatic colors were seen, this blue-white glow in a normally dark part of the sky is most likely due to auroral activity. Canon EOS 300D, 20sec@f/3.5, ISO 1600

Jianlin Liang,
Houghton, MI, USA
Apr. 09
#1, #2, #3, #4, more

I went to a state park around 1:00am to see the auroras. The views were so amazing that I wished I had ten cameras and numerous of hands. All the pictures were taken between 1:00am and 3:30am with a Canon 300D, ISO 400, 24-70 lens, f2.8, 22-69 seconds.

Dan Frissora,
Rochester, MN
Apr. 09
#1, #2,

I was about to go to bed, after all it was almost 2:00 a.m., and I decided to take one more look outside since Spaceweather.com has been talking about solar wind and southward magnetic fields. I saw these very dim auroras, threw on some clothes and grabbed my tripod and Nikon D70 to capture these 30 second images. At first they were flashing almost like lightning. Although there was a bright moon to my back, the house is lit with a flashlight (torch).

Jerry Xiaojin Zhu,
Madison, WI, USA
Apr. 09
#1, more

Green visually. Started as a green arc, soon developed rapidly changing rays. Then it began to pulsate at a frequency of about 3 Hz before it faded. The show lasted more than an hour. Canon 300D, 10 second at ISO 1600, 18mm, F3.5.

Yuichi Takasaka,
Koksoak River, Northern Quebec, Canada
Apr. 06
#1, #2, #3, more

Pentax *istD, FA 20mm lens. The river is still frozen solid, making a lot of big sharp noise when the cracks were made. Half moon illuminated the foreground.

more images: from Norm Jones at Petawawa Point overlooking the Ottawa River in Canada; from Derek Weston of Cedar Rapids, Iowa;

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