The Sun goes through a Solar cycle every 11 years so it is very active when it reaches, what is called, Solar Maximum. This is estimated to be around the end of 2024 or the start of 2025.

So the Sun is a lot more active right now!

How do we take photos of it? Can it be seen where I live?

What kind of equipment do we need to see it.

I will cover these in this blog.

If we are not that far north like Northern Norway, the Aurora may not be as strong and therefore fainter in the sky. So what we need is to set our camera to a longer exposure. Might have to set it to 8 seconds exposure.

You also need a fairly wide angle lens, 14mm up to about 24mm, not a telephoto lens.

So you would need a tripod to prevent the camera from moving. It has to be perfectly still. Also you can set the shutter for a 2 second delay in releasing. This gives time to get your hand away from the camera to avoid camera shake.

Another thing we need to do is to set the aperture to the lowest number which would be around F2, this means that the opening is actually wider and lets in more light. F11 aperture is a much smaller opening so lets in little light. I know the F number can throw us off because it seems counter-intuitive.

Another thing is focus. The camera will need to be on manual focus because there will not be enough light for the camera to detect and auto focus on.

The way to do this is to use the camera view finder screen and look at a distant light such as a bright star. Use the digital zoom to enlarge the object. Then turn your focus ring on your lens to get it sharp.

Set the camera on the tripod and you always want to be facing north because this is the direction of the source of the aurora.

Then You need to experiment with the settings. If you start with 8 seconds exposure, it may be too bright. If this is the case you can try 6 seconds or 4 seconds. It may be too dark, so you need to adjust the shutter speed for longer than 8 seconds.

Another thing is to make sure the ISO setting is at about 1600. Any more than that might introduce too much noise.

LOCATION

You do not need to live at the North Pole to see the aurora. An average strength aurora can be seen as far south as southern Canada. A strong Aurora can be seen as far south as Washington or Spain and a very strong Aurora can be seen as far south as Texas or Cairo.

The same can be true in the Southern Hemisphere with the equivalent latitudes with the southern version called Aurora Australis.

Only recently the Aurora was seen in New Mexico.

The Aurora can be seen whenever it is dark and the sky is clear. It also a good idea to go to a place where there is no light pollution and away from a town or city.

This information should give you the basics of photographing the Aurora and its something you can practice and experiment with.

There is also some great apps that give you notifications of when an Aurora occurs.

I use one called Aurora watch UK. When it goes off, I go and find a dark area to see the Aurora and take some photos.

I hope this has been helpful to anyone wanting to capture the Aurora or anyone taking a trip to Iceland or Norway.

Let me Know how you get on.

Danny

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