Mike Taylor has been a
landscape and studio photographer for over 20 years and teaches night
photography and processing-technique workshops for the public. His
images recently illustrated the book "The Secret Galaxy" by Fran Hodgkins (Tilbury House Publishers, 2014). Taylor contributed this article to Space.com's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.
On June 22, word went out that a boost of activity on the sun would
produce stunning auroras, so I ventured to Moosehead Lake, located just
above the 45-degree latitude.
The brightly colored illumination of the northern lights, or aurora
borealis, is created by flares emitted by the sun, with the resulting
solar winds striking the Earth's atmosphere to create charged particles
that emit light. The resulting video consists of approximately 1,400
still frames that I captured between 10 p.m. EST on June 22, 2015, and 3
a.m. EST on June 23, 2015.
All footage was captured with a Nikon D600 and Nikkor 14-24mm wide angle lens
and a Nikon D7000 & Tokina 11mm to 16mm wide angle lens with the
following settings: f/2.8 — 15 second exposures — ISO 1600 - 18 second
interval (3 second gap in between exposures).
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The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily
reflect the views of the publisher. This version of the article was
originally published on Space.com.
http://www.space.com/29784-stunning-northern-lights-in-five-hour-time-lapse.html
