Post by Al Degutis on Sept 7, 2005 14:05:49 GMT -6
Friday night, I was outside imaging M31 (Canon 300D piggybacked on a LX200) and looked north from time to time to see if there was any activity. Sometimes it's difficult to differentiate between the sky-glow, haze and clouds near the horizon and northern lights. One of the times, around 05:00 UT (midnight local time), I spotted faint but
obvious pillars of light in the northwest. I hurried to interrupt my imaging session and pointed my scope to the north. I couldn't get the scope low enough for the camera to get a good view of the north so I removed it from the scope and put it on a tripod. I also changed from the 300mm lense to the 55mm lense. By the time I got that all set up (10 minutes) the auroral display had stopped. I watched (and snapped photos) for a half-hour but didn't see or capture anything. I put the camera back on the telescope and returned to imaging M31, frequently looking to the north for a return which did not occur.
obvious pillars of light in the northwest. I hurried to interrupt my imaging session and pointed my scope to the north. I couldn't get the scope low enough for the camera to get a good view of the north so I removed it from the scope and put it on a tripod. I also changed from the 300mm lense to the 55mm lense. By the time I got that all set up (10 minutes) the auroral display had stopped. I watched (and snapped photos) for a half-hour but didn't see or capture anything. I put the camera back on the telescope and returned to imaging M31, frequently looking to the north for a return which did not occur.