Northern Lights Alert
…well it isn’t – Northern Lights Alert, that is.. But as you can see from this image shot and hour ago, the conditions are clear, and even though the statistics for aurora tonight (se graphic to the right) isn’t way up in the red end of the scale – I’m hoping to see and maybe shoot a photo of the first aurora this fall.
Clear skies tonight – hoping for aurora
Cloudscapes – Ankenes
These beautiful clouds indicating a shift in the weather, was caught today while out hunting for a “Second-Day-of-Summer-photo.
Cloudscapes - Slightly turbulent clouds up through the various layers of atmosphere
Venus right now
Nope, not the one from Milo, but the faithful planet that also is known as The Morning Star or Evening Star. Venus is the brightest natural object in the night sky after the Moon. Although beautiful seen from a distance, this is a very hostile place to be. The pressure of the atmosphere is 93 bar (your car tire is a couple of bars…) and the temperature is around 460°C.
Venus is shining very brightly these days - here reflecting itself in the Ofoten Fjord
Grand Finale – Northern Lights
The night is getting lighter and soon the Midnight Sun will be shining – thus making it impossible to see the spectacular phenomenon – Northern Lights (Aurora borealis). But still the night is dark enough to se the occasional Northern Lights. Although I am too busy at the moment to spend hours out in the cold gazing for this beautiful light show – yesterday I just had to.
I only shoot photos in RAW-mode. Hence it takes a lot of hard, manual labor to “develop” them into JPEGs suitable for showing here. And there it is again time… Well, I’ve processed one with the planet Venus shining brightly through the vail of the Northern Lights above the Ofoten Fjord.
Northern Lights yesterday - Venus is shining through the vail of Northern Lights
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 Moon and The Fagernes Mountain
A huge composite image of The Fagernes Mountain
Fagernes Mountain and the moon
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.
I am so sorry…
- Do you prefer a safe Internet?
- Do you prefer a stable Internet?
- Do you prefer the old security of rights “Innocent until proven Guilty” to still be a golden rule in democratic societies?
- Do you support a free, prosperous Internet
- Do you oppose giving control over the World’s most significant tool for Prosperity and Freedom of Expression to the entertainment industry and dictatorius regimes?
Please, watch these film:
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/defend_our_freedom_to_share_or_why_sopa_is_a_bad_idea.html
http://fightforthefuture.org/pipa
This has NOTHING to do with protecting artists’ Copyright! They are already protected through the law over most parts of the world – and I support the ones I like by buying their music and films.
This has EVERYTHING to do with giving the Entertainment Industry (and subsequently corrupt regimes) the TOTAL control over The Internet…
Still not convinced: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJIuYgIvKsc
- If you are a US citizen, please, contact your congressman today and protest!
- Do you know a US citizen, please urge him/her to protest!
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Northern Blog-O-Sphere 