I dabbled quite a bit in astrophotography and timelapses but aurora are harder to catch but much easier to photograph ( if the conditions are right! ). It takes some diligence and planning so Here are some quick tips on catching aurora:
Download an aurora tracking app [I use ‘aurora’ and ‘northern lights’]. Finland also has a SMS alert option you can subscribe to online for instantaneous notification.
Solar activity is measured on a ‘KP’ scale ranging 1-10. Regions closer to the poles require a lower KP to show aurora. It seems to average 2-3 KP each day, but every couple weeks there’s a few days with KP 4 or 5. I haven’t seen anything above a KP 5 yet.
In Rovaniemi Finland I’ve seen the aurora on a few evenings at KP of 3.6 and a reported ‘chance of seeing’ at 30%.
Time planning: short to long term
Aurora showing may only last 15minutes and occur once or twice in an evening. If your app reports high chances, stay vigilant or just wait outside for a few hours with some Aquavit to stay warm.
The sun rotates every ~27-31days and has a with it a few streams of cosmic stardust
Time of year: Winter darkness is better with longer nights. However I have heard the closer to the vernal and autumnal equinoxes also present good activity. Forget about summertime.
Solar activity is generally believed to cycle every ~11yrs with the next solar maximum (more sunspots and aurora) around 2024 :(
Photography
The built-in phone camera may capture ~80% of the magnificence of an aurora. To get more out of your phone, download a ‘pro’ camera app that allows you to force longer exposures up to 1-4 seconds. You’ll need a tripod or steady base as well.
dSLR: these obviously work great. You can get decent handheld shots and even video. Keep in mind a wide lens and tripod are ideal. Additionally a hot-pack may help to prevent the lens from fogging if you’re doing some extended timelapse captures.
I used to waste a lot of time capturing timelapse videos and developing motorized camera dolly’s, I would’ve loved to snag a sequence of the aurora— too bad my batteries died due to the cold!
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