When it’s really dull, sometimes the best you can get is the histogram about halfway across the graph. If you can’t, increase your shutter speed until you can. Ideally, your histogram will be pushed far to the right without going beyond the right side end of the graph. ![]() You’ll need to figure out how high you can go with ISO before it gets too noisy. I don’t got beyond that because it gets too noisy. My camera does well up to ISO of 6,400 to 8,000. Then I push the ISO up until I can get shutter speeds near 2 to 4 seconds. Usually, that means using a wide aperture. The key concept is to capture lots of data and try to get as short of a shutter speed as possible. Q: What settings should I use to photograph them?Ī: This is a hard one, because when they’re bright you’ll use different settings than if they’re dull. A shutter release cord to prevent camera shake. A hot shoe bubble level to make sure the lakes are level in your shot. See my post on best inexpensive tripod for the money. Q: I want to photograph the northern lights what gear should I bring?Ī: A solid tripod. Even in summer, it gets cold in the north. If you’re just watching them, it might be really nice to have one. Not if you are photographing the northern lights, because you’ll want to move around and recompose and try different angles. So, if you’re out shooting night photos put yourself somewhere near a northern view around midnight. What are those?Ī: Around midnight, even when the auroras aren’t predicted, they sometimes appear for a brief time. I don’t use an iPhone, but I heard that Aurora Forecast by Tinac Inc. It’s called Aurora Alert and it’s by Eagle’s Orbit. If there’s a storm, we will probably have them.Ī: Yes, it’s for Android and it’s amazing. The magnetic north pole is closer to Minnesota than the true north pole, so we get the northern lights more often that you’d think we should. Why does it get them often.Ī: The aurora oval rotates around the magnetic north pole more than the true north pole. Q: Minnesota isn’t that high in latitude. ![]() So, if it’s really low in Russia and the storm continues, it may be low over North America. It usually is lowest on the globe during local midnight. It looks like the northern lights are over Russia, so we won’t get them, right?Ī: The aurora oval rotates as the day goes on. Q: I looked at Spaceweather and saw the aurora oval. You know how wrong the weatherman usually is, right? Same thing. Q: Will they be out next week or next month when I visit Grand Marais?Ī: Northern lights are literally weather. You could use the Dark Sky Finder to help you out. Find a place with an open view to the north and look. They’ll be either a band on the horizon or a green glow.Ī: Go out into the country as far away from city lights as you can get. For example, in Grand Marais we can often see them at Kp=3ish. You can often see the northern lights low on the horizon even if the Kp is lower than it would need to be to put the front in your location. Kp-9 puts it way south almost to northern Texas. Kp=6 puts the front near the Twin Cities. Kp=4 means that the edge of the aurora is somewhere near Grand Marais. ![]() The higher the number, the further south you can see them. It’s better for a layperson.Ī: We use Kp to rate the strength of the aurora storm. The Aurora Forecast from the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks is also great. Look for the Kp index, the Auroral Oval and the Geomagnetic Storms chart. The aurora prediction is in the left column at the bottom. Q: Where can I get the space weather report?Ī: My favorite is. That said, for some reason they appear more often around the equinoxes. You can predict it like you can predict the weather, but you usually only have a few days warning. The northern lights happen after the sun ejects a corona mass ejection (CME) and that CME hits earth. Q: When is the best time of year to see them?Ī: It’s hard to say. Q: Can I narrow down the time I need to stay outside to see the northern lights?Ī: Not sure why you would want to being outside is awesome! Usually, 11pm to 1am is the best. If it’s on your bucket list to see them, then you have to put in the time and stay out until (if) they show up. They can appear at anytime and sometimes they only last a few minutes and other times they last from dawn to dusk.
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