Here in the North, the nights are getting shorter and brighter very quickly now and the midnight sun period is just around the corner. Tonight`s display started just as it got dark enough to see and lasted for the entire night into the early morning. These days are some of the last possibilities to watch the auroras and tonights outburst was a very nice way to end a great aurora season. It was also the first time for me to watch auroras while at the same time be able to listen at the singing of spring-birds like the oystercatchers which have steted to arrive in the North. Nikon D3, Nikkor 20mm f/2,8, ISO 640-800, 4 - 13 sec exposure.

For me these were the first auroras of the winter, just as the darkness is slipping away. I missed the earlier strong display just before midnight, and time I got out to my shooting spot, they had pretty much disappeared. So I waited, and some nice, soft, slow, auroras came back between midnight and 3:00am, so I was able to grab a few shots. Whew! Finally! I even managed to catch a small meteor(which I did not see with my eyes) in the center of one of the panos. Canon 5D, f2.8, 1000 ISO, 8 seconds.

What a lovely moonrise it was ! And when I turned my back the auroras were performing their own show on the northern sky! It's my birthday (yes, I'm Aprils Fool) so nature gave me lovely present, and this wasn't an april joke ! Taken with Nikon D80

There was a brief low level Aurora event last night. This is what the profile of the Aurora belt looks like at my latitude. Soft and fluffy! A very different view than the luck ones much closer to the north. Norway, Alaska, etc... Taken with a Canon 5D2 and a Sigma 15mm f2.8 Fisheye lens. 30 second exposure, f2.8, ISO1250