brianb
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Zzzz... OK, woke up, uploaded images .... Two views at wide angle looking North and North East Zoomed in a bit looking North Zoomed in quite a lot looking about ENE, where there was a small patch almost isolated from the main display but as bright as anything else visible All taken between 0251 & 0255 BST (June 5th 2009), 5 sec @ f/4, ISO 100 The display started approx. 0200 BST as an enhancement to the twilight glow (like yesterday) and was still in progress at 0320. Though apparently fading in the brightening twilight the display was becoming gradually more complex, with more fine detail.
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martinastro
Martin Mc Kenna
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Maghera, N. Ireland
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Very nice images Brian!, the second one is quite spectacular showing the full extent of that display. Very nice. Here's a few of my own, didn't get a good focus but no matter. Visible from 00.57 - 03.30 BST, type 4 brightness, > 120 degrees in azimuth, 30 degrees high with electric blue, green and silver colours. Shadow casting display. Whirls, lacunosus holes, IIb bands, waves/herringbone and veil. This is the 3rd night in a row of NLC activity, the season is in full swing now. You can see the dark towering cumulus clouds in the last two images.
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rjgjr
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Very nice images indeed Brian and Martin.
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Paul
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Looks like you guys had a good night! I set up my time-lapse camera at 2245 when things were looking very promising, and turned it off when I awoke at 0040 to find the North sky 100% cloud covered - an exact repeat of the previous night! So I have the raw materials to make a video of big black clouds coming in from the east, but no NLCs for me
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brianb
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Very nice images Brian!, the second one is quite spectacular showing the full extent of that display. Very nice. Thanks Martin .... the images actually show more than was readily visible to the naked eye, I think the eye is bad at picking out faint low contrast detail whereas the camera captures it more easily. Sorry to hear about your clouds, Paul. I'd almost forgotten what they look like, 8 consecutive nights effectively completely clear. Unheard of ... if the sky wasn't the same (Antares just scraping along the horizon) I'd swear we'd been transplanted to the Mediterranean! The forecast for tonight is less promising but nasty looking one band of showers has passed by with only a light sprinkling here & the sky is apparently clearing up again
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Roman White
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Congratulations guys, well done! Martin, nice report on your website. Nothing seen from here during a few recent evenings.
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SkyWatcher 130/900mm EQ3, Bresser 76/700mm, 20x90 bino. and other, Olympus SP-550UZ Eclipse & comet chaser, occultation & meteor observer Poltava Astronomy Portal
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martinastro
Martin Mc Kenna
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Maghera, N. Ireland
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Thanks for the comments Roman, Richard, and Tyler. Tyler, the term 'mid Summer night's dream' is very fitting indeed, I think I have actually used that line before when talking about NLCs. They certainly are a mid Summer's dream for us each year. Paul, sorry to hear about those clouds, keep watching... I think John 9929 got the real cracker (previous page) from last night. Here's a few more I took of the NLCs just before dawn showing the dark convective towers contrasting against the NLC. The horizon was orange below the convection where the glow of the Sun would later rise. I really liked these scenes.
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rjgjr
Guest
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I must say again Martin, those are beautiful images. I really like # 3 with the hint of orange beginning to peek under the cloud layer, and I also really like the wide angle that shows just how really dark the sky still is. We haven't had any NLC's that I've noticed. We're at a pretty low latitude for them here. I have seen them on rare occasions though. Good job!
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John9929
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Maghaberry, N.Ireland.
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« Last Edit: June 07, 2009, 11:21:33 am by John9929 »
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brianb
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Nice ....
June 5/6: A frustrating night, the horizon seemed to clear in most directions most of the time but the useful bit of the sky was fairly stubbornly overcast. Still I did manage to get half a dozen variable star observations, and no showers hit me.
The clearest bit of the sky was low in the north to north east and the transparency between the low level cloud was good. NLC negative, though, at least until 0245 BST when a particularly dark cloud approaching from the east caused me to pack up; with the sky brightening rapidly, only another 15 minutes or so would have been possible anyway.
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martinastro
Martin Mc Kenna
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Maghera, N. Ireland
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Richard, thanks very much for your kind words. John, cracker images, the 4th one down is a real beauty!! Brian, that confirms what my night was like. It was clear, then clouded over with some light showers, then back to clear skies again before dawn. I seen no NLC activity at all, although there was some impressive dark convective towers along the northern horizon below Capella bubbling up around 03.00 BST which looked cool. Didn't take any images at all so everything was quiet. Round 2 tonight....
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brianb
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June 6/7: Sky to the N mostly clear but with persistent cloud along the horizon. NLC not seen.
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jjb
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Great set of images folks last night sat was clouded out here it will be interesting to see what the week ahead brings hopefully clear skies!
jonathan
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martinastro
Martin Mc Kenna
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Maghera, N. Ireland
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Clear spells very low in the N on and off all night. No NLC activity observed.
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brianb
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Jun 7/8: Poor conditions with much broken alto/stratocumulus & patchy cirrostratus. NLC not seen.
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