This man touched your life profoundly today – Born 150 years ago
Vilhelm Bjerknes - One of the most important scientists of modern times - 150 years anniversary
You may not think too much about it, but almost every item you are in contact with every day, practically every second is impacted by one very essential thing: weather… Think about it, industry transport goods over the oceans or through the air. Maintaining a major road takes planning and is dependent on good weather forecasts. What is an almost dead-certain part of any news broadcast where ever you are on the planet? Weather forecasts… And the man that invented the science that makes modern, scientific weather forecasts possible, was the Norwegian Vilhelm Bjerknes. Until he did it, nobody thought it would be possible to predict weather with any accuracy.
In a country where you can always start a conversation with a chat about the weather – Norway – (we have a lot of it here) we celebrate the 150 year birthday of this remarkable man who contributed so much to making your modern, everyday-life possible!
Vilhelm Bjerknes (14 March 1862 – 9 April 1951)
Conjunction – Jupiter and Venus
I was lucky today – in between the thick cover of clouds – a sudden a very small clearing opened up and gave me a tiny window of opportunity to catch the special conjunction that is visible in the night sky this week between Jupiter (left) and Venus (right). The best conjunction to be seen for years!
Conjuntion - Planets Jupiter (left) and Venus (right) - shot tonight 6:43 pm - Ankenesstrand, Norway
The New Record and The Waiting Game
Today my blog has reached a new time high! My last entry about with the Northern Lights photos has shot through the roof! Right now we are experiencing the biggest Sun Storm since 2005. This is really bad news for communication and navigation satelites. It is not very healthy being an airline passenger or crew neither. But for watching spectacular lights in the night sky, it is great. Right now there’s a lull in the activity, but as the Earth rotates a little bit more, we in Northern-Norway will be right on the backstream of the charched particles from the Sun.
I have already shot a few photos tonight and are waiting for more. Unfortunately there is a lot of clouds right now. And since it’s rather cold, people are throwing birch into the fireplaces – like ther was no tomorrow – which produces a lot of smoke particles which scatter the light even more.
I hope you enjoy these preliminary shots of tonights show!
Stunning auroral activity!
Yesterday was a fantastic night! All one could hope and dream for! Often times the Earth’s magnetic field pushes so hard back against the Sun’s magnestic field, that the particle from solar bursts never enter the ionosphere to create this spectacle. But yesterday was – luckily – a day when the magnetic field lines let slip particles deep down into the ionosphere to create these breathtaking views. With the good help of my friend Øystein Lunde Ingvaldsen, I managed to process the final details of my RAW photos to stand out like they are seen.
Enjoy!
Seen straight up!
Engulfed in light all around!
Have you ever gotten a present that just keeps on giving? This night was such a present! Northern Lights covering the entire night sky. Severeal times I just had to stop – I simply didn’t know which part of the sky I should shoot… Now that is a serious luxury problem! I have several hundred pictures ready for processing.
Here are just a few! More to come!
SOPA / PIPA postponed indefinitely
The SOPA and PIPA law proposals are postponed indefinately! Which means the World’s Population – not the Entertainment Industry – still has the democratic control over the internet! (For now)
So in order to join in the free expression of the world this entire blog is free under a CC – Creative Commons License – with the following limitations:
Commercial Use: NO (right back at you, greedy entertainement industry) Not without my written permission.
Share alike/alter the work: Yes, you may alter and share my pictures, videos or texts from this blog, as long as you link back to the blog. But still, if for commercial use, you need my written permission.
This license applies to The Whole World!
Dette verk er lisensieret under en Creative Commons Navngivelse-Ikkekommersiell-DelPåSammeVilkår 3.0 Unported lisens.
Narvik under the Winter Moonlight
Beautiful Winter Scene this Evening - Narvik getting ready for Christmas
Real Heavy Winter Storm
I flew from Denmark to Northern-Norway on Thursday. That was just as a heavy low pressure weather system moved in from the West. And it hit the coastline of the two nations with extreme force. All the way up in the jet-stream where we flew at 32,000 feet, the turbulence could be felt all the way to the North. My friend Ole spent some time by the West Coast of Denmark in his cottage. He reported a real heavy shaking in the cottage as the storm gusts hit. But no harm was done. Ole graciously lent me this picture from the storm of 9th of December.
The violent storm reached the beaches of Western-Denmark on Friday the 9th of December. Photo: Ole Hejgaard
The Polar Night
Yesterday I took this panorama. This is approximately as light as it gets in Narvik this time of year.
Panorama of Narvik - as light as it gets - no direct sunlight in the winter as the sun never rises above the horizon (click on the image for "The Big Picture")
More Dramatic Clouds
More-Dramatic Clouds
Fantastic Aurora Borealis!
Yesterday I got to see on brilliantly fantastic Aurora Borealis Show! (Click on the pictures to see it full size! Click once, wait until it loads, then click once again and – VOILA! – you’ve godt it full size!)
Aurora Borealis last night - a spectacular show
More from yesterday’s Aurora-show
(Click on the pictures to see it full size! Click once, wait until it loads, then click once again and – VOILA! – you’ve got it full size!!)
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Northern Blog-O-Sphere 