SAR Surprise

Image Critiques Nightscape & Astro Critiques
1

SAR_V10_NoConstellations.jpg
SAR_V10_NoConstellations.jpg1500×1290 1.71 MB

SAR_V8.jpg
SAR_V8.jpg1500×1477 2.11 MB

Near Peak Aurora

SAR_NW_Hutchinson.jpg
SAR_NW_Hutchinson.jpg1500×1000 1.37 MB

SAR from NW view

SAR_NE_Hutchinson.jpg
SAR_NE_Hutchinson.jpg1500×1000 1.21 MB

SAR From NE View

Critique Style Requested: Standard

The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.

Description

I ventured out on Thursday night to try my first attempt at photographing the Aurora Borealis. I did not know what to expect nor what the aurora would look like. I decided on a location in Marin County in California in Mount Tamalpias State park on Point Ballou which was approximately 2000 feet above sea level hoping to avoid any fog coming off the coast. It also had a good view north with the northern horizon line just a bit lower than the point.

When I got to the park entrance just after sunset, the rangers had already locked the gates. That I was not expecting and I felt like my effort was thwarted. I parked there for a few minutes considering my options. Go back into the Bay Area and try to find a composition that included a bridge or try heading further north into Point Reyes National Seashore. I chose the latter and headed down to Hwy 1 along the coast. It was around 8 pm by the time I got to Hwy 1 and started heading north. All along the way the Coast ranges were blocking any view to the north until I got into Olema. There was one open section where I could see the Big Dipper, but the horizon was a bit high. I continued on into Point Reyes only to find I was under fog. So I turned around and headed back to Olema and made my stand there.

I arrived around 8:30 pm and very near peak storm according to the Astropheric Kp forecast. I pointed my camera north and made an exposure and sure enough, even though my eyes could not see anything in the sky, a huge swath of crimson appeared on my LCD. I spent the next hour making exposures. But it was strange as the swath of color did not have the ribbons of light, nor did spread out horizontally along the horizon. I was somewhat puzzled and a little bit disappointed in how the night turned out.

When I returned to my neighborhood in the Santa Cruz Mountains around midnight, I decided to stop at the only area where I could get a view of the sky and I wanted to photograph Orion as it rose in the east. To my amazement that crimson band was there in the North East! I turned to the North West and made another exposure and that band was there again. I was greatly puzzled.

When I got home, I started to look up other photos of the Aurora on Spaceweather.com and happened upon a photo with a caption stating a possible SAR arc was in the photo. I looked it up and discovered that a SAR (Stable Auroral Red) arc is a unique phenomena that takes place during intense geomagnetic storms but is not an aurora. Aurora are caused by charged particles interacting with the upper atmosphere and the Van Allen Belts causing the particles to glow. A SAR arc is caused by a release of heat into the upper atmosphere and interacting with the Earth’s Ring Current System -What? I know! Crazy! See the link I have below in the Details section for more information.

So the first photo I posted is what I saw around 8:30 pm. The SAR arc is very prominent arcing from the NW and over my head. I think I did catch some of the Aurora off to the North just over the horizon.

The second photo is from the same location but around 9 pm during the peak and I think the Aurora intensified a bit as I can see some vertical banding in it. The SAR arc also seemed to intensify a bit.

The last two photos are of the SAR arc from my neighborhood, and the crazy thing is that it did actually arc across the entire sky from NW to NE!

I went out looking for Auroras and came back with something even more rare, a SAR arc!

Specific Feedback

I don’t even know what to ask. I guess do the colors look right? I have no idea since I could only faintly see the SAR arc as a slight red hue in the sky, and I did not see the faint Aurora on the horizon.

Any feedback is most welcome.

Technical Details

Nikon D850, Nikon 24 mm F/2 MF lens at f4, ISO 800, 20 second exposures.

I opted for horizontal compositions, but I made about 10 exposures as I panned the camera up from the horizon to over my head in an attempt to capture as much of the color as the camera found. I did not think to continue exposing behind me to the south, because I did not know I was photographing a SAR arc.

I used photomerge in PS after processing the RAW files in Camera raw.

Here is the link to the SAR arc information - https://spaceweatherarchive.com/2021/11/22/3308/

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2

What a very frustrating and then even more rewarding evening!! Your captures of the SAR arc are wonderful! I’m amazed that it was so persistent after the aurora had faded.

I was not familiar with it. Looking back through my files there is a vague area near the top of the frames that must have been it, visible in the bottom frame. But it didn’t look like an arc. My night vision wasn’t good enough to see it and I didn’t move the camera to get a better look at it.

I did make a time lapse video which is now linked in my aurora post.

I should have known that the comet was too close to the sun to get an exposure, and gone to a better location, but I haven’t figured out what a good one would be. I need to scout in case we get more chances.

3

I couldn’t find the info on the page that showed when I clicked the link, but I’ll try to search for that when I have a bit more time. I wonder how wide these can be, and are they the only thing that causes red (does the aurora cause red too)? My curiosity is because at times red seemed to fill the northern sky when I was photographing last week.

Anyway, wonderful color you captured!