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The report of the 2013
expedition to observe the Aurora Borealis, in
Northern Norway |
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Between 9 and 15 October 2013
I've participated to an expedition in Alta, Norway
organized by my astronomical group, GAT - Gruppo
Astronomico Tradatese. This is my second trip to
Norway (see Norway 2012),
and I'm still enchanted by the fantastic motions and
shapes of the Northern Lights. Unfortunately this
expedition was plagued by very bad weather, with 0
of 6 nights with a clear sky. So to get a result we
needed to stay up all the nights, and, while driving
along the roads of the fjords near Alta, we searched
for small and temporary holes in the clouds. Usually
the weather was rain, horizontal rain, and then
snow, horizontal snow, snow storm, and so on! And so
it was also when I imaged in the clear holes... the
DSLR cameras and lenses were always completely wet. My instrumentation was composed of:
Here below you can find some of the results: aurorae images and diurnal images. I hope you'll enjoy. Let me know any feedback: comolli@libero.it . |
Hurtigruten, MS Nordlys ship in Oksfjord |
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Aurorae
images Click on the image at left to look at some of my Northern Lights images, unfortunately the best shows were always behind the clouds. |
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Time-lapse Recommended: 1080p, full screen, audio on. Northern lights behind the clouds are the most difficult test for amateur astronomers to pass; but with patience and perseverance we were able to get the show even in a nightmare weather, with 99% cloud cover, rain, rain storms, snow, snow storms... This video joins a week of timelapses in two minutes. Enjoy, and let me know your comments. Music: Rising Sun, by Marco Maggiore Thanks for the permission to use such a great soundtrack! Listen full track on Marco's YT channel |
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Daytime images Click on the image at left to open the Picasa album with 91 shots of the expedition. |
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Magnetometer
activity Here is an archive of the magnetometer activity registered by Tromso Geophysical Observatory. Many of the best images were obtained during the last night, very active. |
For a list of useful links for visiting Northern Norway,
please refer to Norway 2012 page.
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