Northern Night

Tonight, me and my good friend and photographer Espen Bergersen went for a small photo-trip to Kattfjordeidet - a valley here on Kvaløya with dark surroundings. We got to see nice northern lights, a crystal clear view of the Milky Way and a few Taurid meteors sweeping across the sky. With Jupiter being the brightest object at the moment, we could enjoy a wonderful night sky with lots of gems that are usually hidden in the light pollution of the city.

My focus tonight was on trying to get some images of comet Hartley, which is in a very interesting phase right now, and tonight (4 Nov) the comet will get a UNIQUE visit of NASAs Deep Impact (EPOXI) probe passing the comet at close distance which will most likely reveal lots of new information about these celestial wanderers.

The EPOXI mission can be followed here: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2010/15oct_epoxi/


4 November 2010:

Comet Hartley`s large green coma and faint tail can be seen easily, especially in the RGB negative version of tonight`s image.

A stack of various exposure times revealed the faint tail of the comet

RGB negative image of comet Hartley

View to the north towards Ersfjordbotn

Northern light bow stretching over Kattfjordeidet