August 17-21, 2001 Aurora Gallery
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Summary: A coronal mass ejection that left the Sun on August 14th struck Earth's magnetosphere on August 17th. The interplanetary magnetic field near Earth turned south -- a condition that renders our planet's magnetosphere more vulnerable to solar wind gusts -- and the ensuing geomagnetic storm lasted 12 hours. Sky watchers as far south as Sacramento, CA, spotted Northern Lights. Then, on August 21st, Earth entered a solar wind stream flowing from a coronal hole. That triggered a new round of high-latitude auroras.

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

  Photographer, Location Images Comments

John Russell, Nome, Alaska
Aug. 21
#1, #2, #3, #4, more Photo details: Nikkor 35mm@f2, Fuji Superia 800, 15 seconds

Bruce Alber, Oregon
Aug. 19
#1 B. Alber: "At the Oregon Star Party, I photographed faint aurora with the Big Dipper. The photo was taken on Sunday morning August 19th at 3 am. It was shot with Fuji film, ASA 800 at f 1.4 for 2 minutes, unguided. We did not see it clearly until we had the film developed!"

Tom Eklund, Valkeakoski, Finland
Aug. 18
#1, #2, more Photo details: Kodak Elitechrome 100 pushed to 400 ASA, 28mm Sigma and 15-30 sec. exposure time

Marco Verstraaten, Holland
Aug. 18
#1, #2 M. Verstraaten: "Here some pictures from light-polluted Holland captured on Aug. 18th." Photo details: 28 mm lens, f/2.8, 20s to 25s exposures.

Henrik Nordvig, Denmark
Aug. 18
#1, #2, #3, #4 H. Nordvig: "A very promising start to the dark nights ahead!" Photo details: Kodak Ultra 400 film with a Nikon 28mm f:2.8 lens, exposures around 2-4 min.

Lyndon Anderson, Park Rapids, MN
Aug 18.
#1, more Photo details: Fuji Superia 800 film, 10-30 second exposures, 50 mm lens - 1.4 aperture

Marx Reinhard, Goldenstedter Moor, Germany
Aug. 18
#1 Photo Details: Canon EOS 1, ISO 400, 28mm / f:1.8 around 30s

Mark Vornhusen, Goldenstedt, Germany
Aug 17
#1, #2, #3, #4 M. Vornhusen captured these photos, which show the Northern Lights reflecting from a lake, between 21:00 and 22:30 UT on August 17th.

Juha Kinnunen, near Jyväskylä, in Central Finland
Aug. 17
#1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8 J. Kinnunen: "This was a wonderful start-up for the aurora season here, where the night sky is still quite light. This show became visible at around 21.00 UT, approx. 1 h 45 min after local sunset." Photo details: Nikkor 28/1.4 and 20/2.8 lenses and Fuji Provia 400F.

Kaupo Kangur, near Tallinn, Estonia
Aug .18
#1 Photo details: Fujicolor Superia 400 film, Canon EOS 300 camera with zoom lens EF 28-80mm 1:3.5 - 5.6. The exposure time was 15 seconds.

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