Astrophotographer goes into the night - Eric Schandall

On the morning of August 12 at about 0115 I checked the sky conditions before going to bed. There was a glow to the North and auroral rays were visible through the moderately light polluted suburbs of Victoria BC. I immediately realized there would be little sleep that night and packed my camera and tripod.

I drove out to Island View Beach which is mid-way between Victoria and Sidney. It is a lovely setting for photographing the night sky and reasonably dark for the 10 to15 minute drive from home. There are trees, water, beach and islands to frame celestial photographs, so it is a good location.

This night was also the time predicted for the maximum of the Perseid Meteor shower so it was extraordinary to have the Aurora as well on a beautifully clear and warm night.

I photographed for over an hour when my friend David Lee arrived. He is a fellow member of the local RASC Centre who is an amateur photographer with professional experience and equipment. It was great to have company as we enjoyed the spectacle of the night sky. There were many Perseids, some with residual trails though neither of us attempted more than a rudimentary count . The Aurora was bright enough that it hid fainter meteors which otherwise would have been visible.

We were able to discern some faint colours, light greens and blues, and the occasional hint of red though all were faint. The display was very bright particularly from 0330 to about 0400 with flames, rayed arcs, and pulsating arcs at the height of the display, then diminishing to glows. There was a bit of high cloud to the south and also dark patterns in the northern sky which looked like dark nebulae against the bright Auroral display. These appeared to have been contrails or cirrus clouds and produced unusually sharp angled patterns along with the rays and glow. The pulsating arcs went well past the zenith covering nearly two thirds of the sky in total.

There were also times when there were strong rays which when positioned near Jupiter that made it look like an enormous comet. At times Ursa Major was nearly invisible as was Cassiopeia.

This was a great display for this area and the maximum of the Perseids was the icing on the cake, or was the Aurora the icing on the cake for the Perseids? Either way---

The photograph of the fire on the beach is Fuji Superia 800 and a 50 mm Zuiko lens at F.6. The conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter with the rays used Fuji Superia 800. Exposures were typically about 15 seconds with a range of 5 seconds either way. All were taken at Island View Beach outside of Victoria BC, between 0145 and 0350 PDT on the morning of August 12.