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Author Topic: Hunting the Great Alaskan Aurora  (Read 3118 times)

DaFu

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Hunting the Great Alaskan Aurora
« on: May 05, 2009, 09:06:37 am »

This is a wonderful article. It is well-written, witty, and poetic with sturdy advice to boot. The scientific description of the aurora is poetry.

My thanks to Ben Hattenbach and Henry Throop for the great early morning read (and gorgeous pictures).

Dave
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Ben Rubinstein

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Hunting the Great Alaskan Aurora
« Reply #1 on: May 05, 2009, 10:16:59 am »

Very well written and extremely informative.
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Jon Meddings

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Hunting the Great Alaskan Aurora
« Reply #2 on: May 05, 2009, 12:11:35 pm »

Quote from: DaFu
This is a wonderful article. It is well-written, witty, and poetic with sturdy advice to boot. The scientific description of the aurora is poetry.

My thanks to Ben Hattenbach and Henry Throop for the great early morning read (and gorgeous pictures).

Dave

I have to agree completely. As someone who lives in northern Canada and loves to photograph the aurora this was a great article full of wisdom, humor and very practical advice. I've never been to Alaska to photograph the aurora but would add that you can certainly see the phenomenon from a bit further south as well...



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Pete Ferling

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Hunting the Great Alaskan Aurora
« Reply #3 on: May 05, 2009, 04:29:58 pm »

Excellent article.  In regards to the bitter cold in which you've described, I guess some expeditions are more rewarding rather than enjoyable.  I remember making a trip from Pennsylvania down to Tennessee, and getting caught in a surprise -40 degree winter storm.  It was odd having heaters run full blast and still wind up scraping ice off the INSIDE of the windshield.  I stepped outside for the most two painful minutes I could remember to fill the tank.  I was in jeans and leather coat and the artic blast literally felt like it was burning my skin.

Your shots are excellent.
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wolfnowl

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Hunting the Great Alaskan Aurora
« Reply #4 on: May 06, 2009, 01:06:15 am »

Thanks from me too for an informative and well-written article!  And the weather definitely brought back memories from my time working up north...

Mike.

P.S.  Auroras can indeed be seen further south, even in the Great Lakes area, but light pollution really plays havoc with them.
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samirkharusi

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Hunting the Great Alaskan Aurora
« Reply #5 on: May 06, 2009, 01:14:09 am »

Beautiful photography, very well written article.

Noted the absence of "jouney management" as espoused by any organisations (like oil companies) working in the wilderness. One should always leave a record of his planned route and an expected time of return, e.g. with the hotel receptionist. At least then a failure to return should trigger a search in the correct area. I was involved some years back in a 3-day areal search (with planes) looking for somebody who drove off on his rest day into the desert without telling anyone where to. The search had to be spread over hundreds of square km, needlessly. He was found finally, dead from exhaustion (he still had a half litre of water) by a Bedouin tracker just a few km from his vehicle (cracked sump that drained all the oil) and only 11 km from a main road (that was blocked from his view by a mountain range). If there was no mountain range he would have been able to see lights at night rather than spending his waning energy walking in circles. Write down your journey management for the hotel receptionist...

On another note. Since aurorae are line spectra surely it would make sense in more light-polluted regions to shoot them with narrowband filters? A number of narrowband filters are available to amateur astronomers that pass, say, OIII and H-beta plus H-alpha (Astronomik UHC could be an example). Personally I have never seen an aurora  

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Geoff Wittig

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Hunting the Great Alaskan Aurora
« Reply #6 on: May 08, 2009, 09:14:47 am »

Quote from: wolfnowl
Thanks from me too for an informative and well-written article!  And the weather definitely brought back memories from my time working up north...

Mike.

P.S.  Auroras can indeed be seen further south, even in the Great Lakes area, but light pollution really plays havoc with them.

Yes indeed. I live in rural western NY State, and we do get visible auroras here probably once every year or two. The last time I saw it as I came home from working at the hospital after midnight and ran into the house to grab camera & tripod...
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