Northern Lights Photography

Cold is beautiful

2012-02-06T07:47:00.000-08:00

The last week has been really cold, and in my eyes, the colder, the more beautiful the world usually gets. A warm summers day can be fantastic, and I really look forward to the northern spring, but nothing ever beats the frozen silent winter-world.

The last rays of sun on the mountain "Piggtinden" stretching 1505 m over the sea.

A Northern Hawk Owl is watching over the winter landscape in front of the Moon

Cold is beautiful

Comet in the morning sky

2012-01-27T03:30:00.000-08:00

Comet Garradd has been visible in the sky for a long while now. During the first part of the winter, the comet was best seen in the evenings, but it has dropped lower for each day and is now best viewed in the mornings.

The comet is located in the constellation of Hercules and can be found reasonably high in the skies in the early morning hours. The comet is fairly bright, but unfortunately just below naked-eye visibility. It is, however, an easy binocular target and can be seen with a normal pair of binoculars (say 8x45) even from moderately light-polluted skies.

Below is a picture of the comet taken in the morning of 26 January 2012 with a DSLR and a 300mm lens (consisting of ~50 stacked 30-second exposures). The comet is sporting two tails and the photo below reveals the ion tail of the comet (which can be seen extending to the right of the green coma) and the dust tail (stretching down below the comet). Earlier in the year, the two tails appeared like single tail as seen from our perspective, but as the comet rounded the Sun, the two tails can now be seen separately.

The green glow in the background is due to faint pulsating auroras in the sky.

Comet Garradd will remain visible in the constellation of Hercules for yet a long time.

Comet C/2009 P1 Garradd

Crescent Moon + Venus (and Uranus)

2012-01-26T05:58:00.000-08:00

Tonight, the crescent Moon (12% lit) and the planet Venus (shining brightly at mag -4) can be seen closely together in the sky as the sun sets.

This is the pair together last evening (25 January). Tonight, they will be even closer to eachother.

Tonight (26 January 2012) the pair looks like on the picture below. Note that it is not only possible to see the Moon and Venus close to eachother. A little further up the blue dot of Uranus can be seen and a little further to the west (not on the picture) Jupiter shines almost as bright as Venus. A night for planet-watching!

Update - Solar Storm in Progress

2012-01-24T09:18:00.000-08:00

During the last three days, very strong northern lights have been seen all around the Arctic circle.

As predicted, a strong coronal mass ejection (CME) hit the Earth`s magnetic field only an hour ago at approximately 1500 UT, as reported by my colleague Rob Stamnes at Polar Light Center in Lofoten, Norway.

This means that strong auroras are very likely in the hours ahead, so if you have clear skies, go out and have a look at the night sky!

Below is a video sequence I made from the solar storm of 21-23 January 2012 - tonight`s show might be even better!

Watch the video in Full HD here

The Sun is awake!

2012-01-24T01:07:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday (Jan 21) was the return-of-the-Sun day here in Tromsø, when the Sun could be seen above the horizon for the first time since November last year. Because of mountains blocking the view I haven`t seen the actual Sun yet, but the reflected light could be seen on the mountain slopes and soon it will reach even higher.

The Sun, however, did much more than "just" return this weekend - it also sent along a so-called coronal mass ejection (CME), which hit the Earth's magnetic field and produced some very strong northern lights all around the Arctic circle.

This is what the night sky looked like as seen from Kvaløya outside Tromsø. The pictures are from January 21, 22 and 23rd.

Auroras and the planet Jupiter in the gap of Ersfjorden, Norway

The Pleiades and Jupiter framed by auroras and the mountains of Kvaløya

Northern Lights corona in green and red

Red auroras

View from the outside of Kvaløya on January 22

Humpback Whales in Polar Darkness

2012-01-10T12:25:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was an amazingly beautiful winter day here on Kvaløya on the coast of Northern Norway.

I woke up in the morning to the blue light of dawn and felt that the temperature in the bedroom was around 7-8 degrees. What this usually means is that the sky has been clear during the night, allowing the temperature to drop both outside and inside, and when I looked out, the brighter stars were still sparkling like little gems over the snowclad landscape and the sky was crisp and clear.

It is still polar darkness here in the north, so the Sun doesn`t rise above the horizon until the end of the month, but the special light can make January one of the most beautiful months of the year.

What can then possibly be better than going out at sea and watch the mountain-peaks of the fjords rise like snow-giants out of the sea in the blue morning light? I was lucky enough to be invited out for a boat trip by another biologist and photographer (thank you so very much for an amazing trip Audun - it is a true pleasure to be out with such nice persons as you guys and great to meet people with similar interests).

Gulls feeding on herring around mid-day outside Kvaløya

After searching along the coast for any signs of humpback whales for the identification project - Humpback Whale ID - we couldn`t find any whales in the areas where they had been spotted earlier, but outside the characteristic mountain "Håja", we saw thousands of gulls and drove towards them. When we came closer, we saw the blows of two humpback whales feeding on herring, together with lots of gulls, razorbills, and no less than 16 sea eagles, that wanted to have their share of the food.

Humpback Whale with the island Senja in the background

Humpback Whale in Polar Darkness

The short days only allowed for a few pictures before the dusk came, but we stayed out at sea as long as possible to enjoy the afternoon light and to see the Moon rise over the horizon. When Venus and Jupiter were climbing above the mountains, and more and more stars became visible in the sky, we headed back home as darkness fell once again over Kvaløya.

Full Moon rising next to Sandøya

Full Moon over Sandøya as seen from open sea

Humpback Whale in the dark

Dusk over Senja

The best fireworks of New Year

2012-01-01T22:40:00.000-08:00

Happy New Aurora Year!

Last year ended with a wonderful northern lights show, and as midnight drew nearer, the sky was painted in green and the stars shone like little gems in the cold winter night.

On a night like this, when the sky is filled with it`s own fireworks, I have to say I can`t really see the point in sending up a bunch of rockets in the sky that goes bang and leaves behind a lot of chemicals. I know I may sound a bit boring, and lets face it, it only happens once a year, but admittedly, I have never been a huge fan of fireworks, and even less so when the sky is putting up a show of its own in green and purple with more amazing patterns than any pyrotechnical engineer can ever dream about !

I hope 2012 will offer many more displays like this - full of amazing colours and patterns - and completely silent and free for everyone to watch.

I wish you all clear skies and the very best for the coming year - which is probably going to be a good year for auroras with the solar maximum coming up in 2012/2013.

Below is a small time-lapse teaser of the northern lights from the last day of 2011:

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

2011-12-29T10:31:00.000-08:00

Humpback Whales

2011-12-18T09:31:00.000-08:00

Right now, the traditional and important fishing for herring is in full swing along the coast of Northern Norway and it is a very special sight to see the returning fishing-boats in the fjords during the blue light of the polar darkness.The herring does not only attract the fishermen, but also killer whales and humpback whales that feast on the fish along the coasts and fjords.

Returning with a catch of herring

As a marine biologist, I started (in a very small scale) to collect pictures for photo-identification of humpback whales in Norway in 2008 - a project that will hopefully one day result in new knowledge on the ecology of humpbacks and give insight into migration patterns between e.g. different feeding grounds. In co-operation with other biologists such data may also reveal migration routes between the feeding grounds in the north and the overwintering grounds in the southern hemisphere.

The most widely used tool for studying humpbacks is very simple and straight-forward. The technique basically involves getting good enough pictures of the flukes of the whales that can be stored in a database. Because no two humpbacks look exactly the same (the flukes have various patterns and markings/scars) the pictures can be used as human fingerprints to identify individual whales. If enough pictures from various places are collected over long time, the same individuals may be seen several times and one can start to get an idea of e.g. migration patterns and the population size.

The fluke of a humpback whale is like a human fingerprint and not two flukes look the same

All projects that aim to understand more about cetaceans through photo-identification are long-term projects and a lot of time and patience is needed before any useful body of data is collected, but one has to start somewhere.

Yesterday, me and a couple of good friends went out with a local fisherman (thank you so much for all your help O-G, you were amazing and did not disturb the whales once!), and managed to locate five different humpbacks on the outside of Kvaløya, and although the whales were clearly resting at the surface for most of the time, I could add at least four "new" individuals to the database. Not only the fluke, but also the dorsal fin is highly characteristic and will be included in the database.

The dorsal fins of two different humpback whales (collected in 2008) outside the coast of Senja

Humpback Whale outside Kvaløya, 17 December 2011

HUMPBACK VIDEO:

Humpback Whale film from outside Kvaløya, Troms

If anyone observes humpbacks along the Norwegian coast and/or have pictures that may be useful for photo-identification, I would be very happy to get in contact with you and you can always reach me on: info@northernlightsphotography.no

Read more about the humpbacks in the Norwegian News NRK Troms og Finnmark

Total Lunar Eclipse indeed !

2011-12-11T13:20:00.000-08:00

The night before the total lunar eclipse was cold and crystal clear with excellent seeing conditions, so my hopes were high for getting a spectacular view of the eclipse the next day. As usual with eclipses, however, unexpected clouds tend to roll in just in time for the eclipse and naturally they did. It was not even possible to guess where the moon should have been in the sky, so in a way, I guess one can call it a sucessful total lunar eclipse - I couldn`t see a thing!

But then, when the totality was over, I could briefly glimpse the eclipsed moon for about 10 minutes. This is also very typical eclipse-behaviour. When you give up, the clouds play a little with you and give you back some hope and below is my best, and only, shot of the event before the clouds rolled in again.

The day after the eclipse, the sky was crystal clear here in Tromsø again and I`m sure the clouds were having a good laugh up in the heaven (probably over some other sky-watcher who went out to enjoy the night sky), but all in all, it`s good to know that some things never change.

Besides, maybe the clouds have decided that they have had their fun and that they give us some clear skies for the upcoming Geminid meteor shower! The job of spoiling a good meteor shower is after all the job of the moon, which will be almost full.

The Geminids are usually extremely good though, and the chances are high for some bright fire-balls to be seen even in bright moonlight!

Total Lunar Eclipse

2011-12-05T04:30:00.001-08:00

Next Saturday, on the 10th of December, a total lunar eclipse will be visible in all of Norway and in large parts of northern Europe, North America and Asia.

Here in Norway, the eclipse will be visible in all of the country. In southern Norway, however, the eclipse will start before the Moon has climbed over the horizon so the beginning of the eclipse won`t be visible. In Northern Norway the entire eclipse will be visible and the Moon will be relatively high in the north-east during the peak of the eclipse.

The eclipse will start at 13:45 (i.e. first umbral contact) and the moon will be totally eclipsed for almost an hour (51 minutes) between 15:06 - 15:57. The last umbral contact will be at 17.18.

Please note that the times are given in local time for Norway, so for universal time (UT) you will have to subtract an hour, so the totality will therefore be between 14:06 - 14:57 UT.

For details check NASAs lunar eclipse page: http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/OH/OH2011.html#LE2011Dec10T

The Moon will be good placed in the sky, so there should be plenty of nice photo-opportunities, weather permitting. Below is s picture from the total lunar eclipse in December last year, when thin clouds covered the moon. The next total lunar eclipse in Norway won`t be until 2015, so grap the chance and go out and watch the Moon `disappear` next Saturday afternoon !

Total lunar eclipse of 21 December 2010

Red and Green Sky

2011-11-28T23:46:00.001-08:00

The polar darkness is far from being dark!

Tonight a CME (coronal mass ejection) from the Sun hit the Earth`s atmosphere and produced some fantastic northern lights that played over the snow-clad landscape during all the night.

At some points during the night there was even some all-red auroras mixed with the green, which is not a common sight even within the Arctic circle. This looks very promising for the polar darkness period, which really ought to be called the polar lights period...

Goodbye Sun

2011-11-21T03:48:00.001-08:00

Tomorrow, the polar night period will begin here in Tromsø in Northern Norway, meaning that the Sun won`t rise above the horizon until January next year. Depending on the location, the length of the polar night period varies from just 20 hours on the Arctic circle to as much as 179 days of the year at the poles. Here in Tromsø the polar night period is "officially" between 25 November - 17 January, but many different definitions (and traditions) exist, and, due to the surrounding mountains blocking the view, the polar night in Tromsø is said to start on the 22 of November.

The last sunrise of 2011

The polar night can only be experienced inside the polar circles and can therefore only be experienced in seven different countries (not counting Antarctica); Sweden, Norway, Finland, Russia, Greenland, US and Canada. To be perfectly strict, Iceland also has a tiny fraction of land within the Arctic circle.

Contrary to common belief, the polar night is not just dark, cold and horrible. To me, this is by far the most beautiful time of the year. A typical day during the polar night period begins with a long slow dawn in different hues of deep blue colours peaking with some orange-yellowish glow where the Sun should have been. Just when you believe the sun is about to rise above the horizon, a long slow dusk starts, turning the snow-covered mountains pink against the cold blue light. Then the Moon and the stars start to rise over the snow-covered landscape and the northern lights begin to play and dance like green and purple ribbons in the sky.

Tromsø during polar darkness

The polar darkness is also a very good time for cosy evenings in front of the fireplace, a time for reading good books and drink hot chocolate in cafès, and last but not least, a time to enjoy the northern lights under the stars! Entering the polar darkness also means that there will be a "return of the Sun"-celebration in the end of January to look forward to...

The blue light of the polar darkness

Blood-red Auroras

2011-10-24T20:09:00.000-07:00

Tonight the sky was filled by some of the most spectacular northern lights that I have ever seen. Early in the evening some truely amazing blood-red auroras could be seen towards the southern horizon as a strong CME (Coronal Mass Ejection) hit the Earth`s atmosphere and sparked a geomagnetic storm over the polar areas and also extended the aurora-oval far south so that many areas where auroras are normally not seen got to see the show, including "exotic" areas like e.g. Arkansas and California!

Time after time the sky was filled by the most amazing patterns, including strong coronas in green and purple, but most noticable was the dominance of the very deep all-red auroras - a much deeper red then I have ever seen before!

Deep red auroras dominated the sky tonight.

The colour of the northern lights depend largely on the composition of gases in the Earth`s atmosphere. When charged particles from the solar wind hit the atoms and molecules in the atmosphere, they excite the atoms present and give off light that we see as auroras. Tonights deep-red auroras indicate that the particles from the solar wind interacted with oxygen at high altitudes (whereas the more "normal" greenish-yellow auroras are formed at lower altitudes). Neutral nitrogen is responsible for the purple colour often seen at the "edges" of the more common oxygen-green.

More about red auroras can be read here: http://www2.gi.alaska.edu/ScienceForum/ASF9/918.html

Northern Lights Corona in green, yellow and purple (the orange parts are clouds)

Enjoying life!

Deep red auroras as seen from a river around midnight. Orion can be seen to the right.
The lights from the nearby city Tromsø can be glimpsed to the left in the picture

Northern lights crown - corona

Later in the night, the auroras appeared so strong in colour that I had to

decrease the saturation level in post-processing considerably!

Panorama by the sea. Large patches of an almost unreal red colour dominated the auroras tonight.

The planet Jupiter can be seen shining through the thin clouds to the upper right.

Bird-photography from the living-room

2011-10-17T02:43:00.000-07:00

It is late October and most birds have left their breeding grounds up here in the north. With the last month being dominated by heavy rainfall and wind, I can see their point in choosing to spend the winter further south, even if I myself can`t stand warm temperatures and very much welcome the winter.

Some birds stay during the whole winter, and more and more birds are gathering around the small feeding-place that we have in our garden, to feed on sunflower-seeds. Some days, a handful of seeds is all that is needed to do some nice bird-photography in the rain.

When I was out refilling seeds the other day I managed to scare off one of my absolute favourite birds (but a bird that I have never seen around here before) - a Great Grey Shrike / Varsler (Lanius excubitor). I failed to find it again, but instead another bird of prey visited the feeding-place just a few minutes later - a Sparrowhawk / Spurvehauk (Accipiter nisus).

Sparrow Hawk

Soon after having scared the smaller birds away, a Jay came flying and landed higher up in the same tree and very clearly showed that it did not like the new visitor at all. When irritated, jays often announce a bird of prey with a harsh screech and raise a crest of feathers on their head which made for a funny picture of this colourful bird.

Eurasian Jay / Nøtteskrike (Garrulus glandarius)

Eurasian Jay - a colourful bird

The sparrow hawk became immidiately aware of the new-comer, and kept it under close watch, and after taking off, the hawk suddenly re-appeared several times and it looked like it was not just irritated but actually considering the jay as prey despite the large size. Normally sparrow hawks go for smaller prey but this bird looked to me as if it was a female (being considerably larger than the male), and came back several times in surprise-attacks even though the smaller birds were gone and it did not look like the jay had full control over the situation.

An attack by a Sparrow Hawk goes quickly and usually happens among the branches of a tree.

The Sparrow Hawk kept the Jay under close inspection

Happy with the photo-session from the livingroom, another surprise-visit came by in the afternoon - a Three-toed Woodpecker /Tretåspett (Picoides tridactylus) - a beautiful woodpecker of the northern taiga.

Three-toed Woodpecker

Male Three-toed Woodpecker in the garden

The Draconid Meteor Shower

2011-10-11T01:30:00.000-07:00

During Saturday night the meteor shower "The Draconids" had its peak in activity. With rather heavy clouds and some light snow-fall early in the evening, I had no real hope to catch any meteors with my camera. Soon after setting up the camera however, I saw a very bright fireball in the east (not far from Jupiter), leaving a distinct reddish smoke-trail. The camera was, of course, pointing in another direction but it looked promising and I decided to ignore the clouds building up behind me.

Meteors are caused by small bits of debris that, when crashing into the Earth`s atmosphere, burn and cause the intense light-streaks that we call meteors. The origin of most meteor showers are dust from comets. When comets travel to the inner parts of the solar system, they shed a stream of debris along their orbits. When the Earth travels through such a stream, an increase in meteor activity known as a meteor shower can be seen. The comet debris that causes the Draconids comes from the comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner.

The clouds came closer and during the peak of the activity I had to realise that the score Clouds vs. Draconids was 1-0, but despite the cloud-cover, I caught a farily bright meteor close to the constellation Cassiopeia.

Draconid meteor through the clouds

Later on, the sky got more clear but there were few meteors to be seen, but instead some spectacular northern lights filled the sky and were at times really bright despite an almost full Moon.

Auroras over Tromsø. The Planet Jupiter can be seen through the clouds to the upper right in the picture.

The next meteor shower is "The Orionids" on the night of October 21, and for an excellent overview of the meteor showers in 2011, have a look at this page: http://www.theskyscrapers.org/meteors/

Solar Storm !

2011-09-27T18:38:00.000-07:00

A severe geomagnetic storm hit the Earth`s atmosphere yesterday and caused strong northern lights that could be seen far south of the latitudes where auroras are normally seen!

Reports of strong aurora-activity started to come in from many places in both southern Europe and North America already on 26 September, but here on Kvaløya outside Tromsø in Norway, the rain-clouds were stubborn and did not allow any observations. Tonight, however, some gaps in the cloud-cover revealed some truely spectacular auroras above. Not in a long while have I seen such colourful auroras with coronas in deep-purple, blood-red and intense-green!

Below are a few still-shots from various time-lapse sequences that I will hopefully be able to post here soon. More pictures and information about the current spaceweather situation can be seen here: http://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=28&month=09&year=2011

A gap in the rain-clouds!

A five-second exposure around midnight local time revealed a stunning sight.
Jupiter and the Pleiades open cluster can be glimpsed in the bottom of the picture

Aurora-snake

Intense northern lights corona

Hawk Owl / Haukugle

2011-09-26T10:50:00.000-07:00

After an exceptionally good year for Norwegian Lemmings (Lemmus lemmus), 2011 will be remembered by many as one of the truely spectacular "lemming-years". For predators, like for example various owls and other birds of prey, the increased abundance of rodents has been, and still is, nothing less than a feast!

During a day-trip in Troms this weekend, I could happily notice that some areas were still crowded with voles running around among the berries. Hawk Owls (Surnia ulula) and Rough-legged Buzzard (Buteo lagopus) were enjoying the dinner table in the beautiful autumn-landscape.

Hawk Owl (Surnia ulula)

Hawk Owl

Hawk Owl taking off

Driving through the autumn landscape

Rough-legged buzzard (Buteo lagopus)

Troms by autumn is beautiful

Hawk Owl

News from the night

2011-09-20T01:04:00.000-07:00

Last night, the heavy cloud-cover that has been parked over Northern Norway lately finally permitted an opportunity to look at the night sky.

The recent supernova that erupted in our galactic neighbourhood (in the Pinwheel Galaxy, M101) that I reported on earlier (http://nordlysfoto.blogspot.com/2011/08/supernova-explosion-in-pinwheel-galaxy.html), could be seen visually without problem even in modest equipment (in my case a spotting scope for birds at lowest magnification (20x). The moon, 50% of full, washed away much of the light of the galaxy itself (which I could only see using averted vision), but the supernova itself proved easier to see than the galaxy.

SN2011fe in M101 - 19 September 2011

Supernovae occur when stars collapse at the end of their lifes and trigger an enourmous explosion that may outshine an entire galaxy for a period of time. This particular supernova, designated SN2011fe or PTF11kly, has now climbed to approximately 10th magnitude according to recent estimates. The last time such a close-by bright supernova could be seen was back in 1972, and only a handful of such bright and close SN`s are known since the middle-ages, so and if you want to see this rare sight, now is the time before it fades! Right now, the exploded star shines brighter than it`s host galaxy and will probably stay bright and stable for yet some time to come.

How to find it and to see it? It is well placed in the sky for us living in the northern hemisphere. The host galaxy (M101) can be found close to the perhaps most well-known star-pattern in the sky - The Big Dipper also known as The Plough or the Saucepan (Ursa major). Once you have located the Big Dipper, finding the place for the supernova is fairly easy, but you will need to let your eyes get dark-adapted before you give it a try. Stay outside in a dark place away from any artificial light sources for at least half an hour before giving it a try.

If you have a pair of binoculars, a spotting scope or a telescope, you should then go to the last to stars in the handle of the Big Dipper. Then, imagine a triangle with the two last stars forming the base and the galaxy with the SN forming the top as shown in this map of the Big Dipper: http://irishastro.org.uk/m101supernova.html. At the top of the imaginary triangle, a faint smudge (being the galaxy) can be seen and the supernova should be clearly visible as a "new" bright white star. A good way of finding the SN is to take a picture of the area - the SN really stands out even in short exposures.

Inverted image of M101

Above is a picture from yesterday evening (19 Sept 2011) taken with a Nikon DSLR with a 300mm lens, exposure time 30 seconds at ISO 1250. To reduce noise, I have combined several 30 sec exposures, but the SN is so bright that it would easily be picked up in even shorter exposures.

For the most recent images and reports, this is a good page: http://www.rochesterastronomy.org/sn2011/sn2011fe.html

Can`t find the bloody thing anyway?

Don`t despair, there`s plenty of other wonders in the night sky. Maybe it was because I have had a dull grey rain-cloud the size of a galaxy over my head lately, but wherever you look in the night sky, there`s plenty to enjoy!

Early in the evening, the moon shone over the autumn coloured landscape with the Milky Way high in the evening sky, later to be joined by some faint aurorae.

The Milky Way

Autumn evening with the Milky Way and Auroras

While the night grew older, the Moon climbed higher with Jupiter shining brilliant by its side, I tried to see what had happened to the comet (C/2009 P1 Garradd) since the last time I had clear skies. Not really expecting to see it with binoculars on a bright night like this, I was surprised how easy it was to find. Now in the constellation of Hercules, the comet keeps wandering over the night sky: http://cometchasing.skyhound.com/comets/2009_P1.pdf, and was a delight to see against the rich star fields. Below is a single-30 sec -exposure of the comet with a 300mm lens and a DSLR.

Comet C/2009 P1 Garradd

Around midnight, I decided to call it the night and stumbled around for a while in the backyard before hitting the bed. Autumn nights are beautiful, but so are autumn days - and the Moon can be seen all day among the yellow autumn leaves.

The backyard around midnight

Morning Moon

Pilot Whale - Grindhval

2011-09-03T13:50:00.000-07:00

Today, me and some friends had an unusual meeting with a Long-finned Pilot Whale (Globicephala melas) on the outside Kvaløya not far from Tromsø.

Breaching pilot whale at Kvaløya, Norway

Just like their close relatives, the Orcas (Orcinus orca), pilot whales live in matrilineal family units, which means that they are headed/leaded by a female, usually the mother. They live in highly stable and social pods (groups) where both the males and the females remain with their mothers during all their life. Mating occurs outside the pod and males typically leave their mothers pod temporarily for mating, but after mating they return to their faimily pod.

Pilot whales are usually very active and behaviors like spyhopping and lobtailing is often seen. Breaching, where the whale leaps clear out of the water, is however rare, but occurs in younger animals.

Pilot whale playing in the water

The pilot whale outside Kvaløya was alone and we can only speculate why this animal was all on its own in the inner part of one of the fjords, and on top it all, doing some spectacular leaps out of the water, but who can resist jumping in the water on a beautiful summers day? Photo-identification data will perhaps answer this questions and I obtained images of the whales left side of the dorsal fin which will be used for identification of this individual.

By studying the shape and markings of the dorsal fin, we can learn much about the biology of pilot whales.

Pilot whales are large anilmals and may reach 4-6 m and 2-3 tonnes

When whales are seen close to human settlements it is unfortunately often the case that various speed-boats go out for a better look, and stressing the animals. A recent sad example of this could be seen in the town of Bergen earlier this year where the pictures of people chasing pilot whales broke my heart: http://www.aftenbladet.no/innenriks/Hval-svmmer-i-flokk-mot-Bergen-2837692.html

Today, several curious boats could be seen in the area, but they all stayed at a good distance from the whale and did not chase the animal - this was almost as encouraging as seeing the animal itself. Not only does it ensure a better whale-watching experience and heavily reduce the stress for the animal, but sets a good example about how to behave around whales - thank you all who kept your distance and noise level down today (03 September 2011)!

All pictures above were taken from land, and for an amazing enounter with whales, you don`t have to go out at sea and stress the animals! With a little patience, they will come to you...

Explosion of colours / Farge-eksplosjon

2011-09-02T18:30:00.000-07:00

The northern lights season couldn`t have started better! The show from yesterday night continued with full force tonight and offered some truely spectacular auroras - including some strong coronas in purple and green that painted the sky in the most amazing colours, patterns and formations:

Northern lights corona from Kvaløya outside Tromsø

The band of the auroras followed the band of the Milky Way

Watching the auroras from a small farm in the countryside

Deep-Sky Auroras - Magisk høstkveld i Nord-Norge

2011-09-02T06:18:00.000-07:00

After yet another warm and sunny day here in Northern Norway, I went out yesterday evening simply to enjoy the beautiful night. The evenings are still warm, and as the sun sets, the trees on the mountain-slopes are glowing in yellow and red. We are in the middle of the beautiful time when summer turns to autumn.

Not long after sunset, the first brighter stars appeared in the night sky and Jupiter was shining like a bright beacon above Tromsø in the east. The red planet Mars could be seen above the mountains in the north and the Milky Way stretched across the deep-blue sky with the summer constellations still high.

As the skies got darker, the Andromeda Galaxy could be seen - a beautiful sight long-missed during the midnight-sun period. Around midnight, I pointed by binoculars to the rich Milky Way region where comet Garradd is currently to be found and was surprised that is was possible to see with simple binoculars.

At the same time, faint whisps and patches, like of smoke, could all of a sudden be seen high up, mostly right above my head or somewhat to the south-west. I pointed my camera, equipped with a wide-angle lens, to the greenish patches and took some exposures and was surprised when I saw what the camera had registered. Visually, it looked like very faint auroras without much structure, but my camera saw something else than me - deep sky auroras!

The Milky Way and deep-sky auroras

Deep-sky auroras is a display of northern lights that is hardly visible to the eye, but with the camera these auroras are far more impressive! As Dr. Tony Philips discribes "they appear at high latitudes when geomagnetic activity is low" and the connection can be seen on the leading web-page on space-weather: http://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=02&month=09&year=2011

Auroras and the Milky Way

Comet in the night sky - Komet på natthimmelen!

2011-09-01T14:00:00.000-07:00

Have you ever dreamed of seeing a beautiful comet graze across the night sky? Comets are, contrary to common belief, rather common. At any time many comets can be seen in the sky, but most of them are faint and only a few comets get bright enough to come within the reach of the naked eye or a simple pair of binoculars. Particularly bright comets, also known as "great comets" are rare and usually only one or two may be seen in a lifetime.

Right now, there is a relatively bright comet visible in the northern hemisphere. The comet is called C/2009 P1 Garradd and has steadily increased in brightness since its discovery in 2009. Currently around magnitude 7.5, the comet is now bright enough to see with relatively modest equipment. A pair of 8x40 binoculars or similar should be sufficient to see the comet from a dark site. During the autumn, the comet is expected to increase further in brightness and maybe reach naked eye visibility from dark sites.

Comet C/2009 P1 Garradd close to the "Coathanger" asterism on 04 September 2011

The comet is well placed in the sky. It is currently to be found right next to the famous Coathanger asterism in the constellation Vulpecula which lies between the more well known and bright constellations Cygnus and Aquila in the Milky Way band.

During September it will pass into the constellation Hercules where it will remain until February. The magazine Sky and Telescope has an excellent finder chart that will make it easy to locate where the comet is: http://media.skyandtelescope.com/documents/Garradd_Findr.pdf

Why not take the chance and go out and try to see one of the "best" comets of 2011. Despite bright skies here in Tromsø it was possible to observe it easily tonight with my 10x42 binoculars and as little as a 2 second exposure revealed the comet well. Visually it looked most like a small greenish fuzzball with moderate condensation.

I wish you all clear and dark skies and happy comet hunting !

Supernova Explosion in The Pinwheel Galaxy

2011-08-30T01:00:00.000-07:00

Right now, big news sweep over the astronomy-world - a supernova explosion happened on the 24th of August in the Pinwheel Galaxy (M101) and it`s getting brighter!

In simple terms, a supernova is a very violent and powerful explosion of a star which release enormous amounts of energy. If such an explosion would occur within 100-200 lightyears from the Earth, it would mean the end of our planet, but luckily this supernova went off at a distance of approximately 23 million lightyear away. Even if this is far away, it is close on an astronomical scale and a rare opportunity to study a supernova in our galactic neighbourhood.

The supernova was discovered on August 24 by the Palomar Transient Factory, probably just hours after the onset, and is brightening rapidly. When it was discovered the magnitude was 17.2 and might reach 11th magnitude. The supernova is designated SN2011fe and is a Type-Ia supernova.

Unfortunately, the skies here in the North are still too bright for any visual observations, but hopefully it will be possible to glimpse this rare sight later during the autumn. Observers further south should make the most of the following nights however, while the Moon is new and out of the way.

Finding the location of the supernova is relatively easy, but seeing the supernova itself requires a telescope. It is located in the constellation "The Big Dipper" or Ursa major in the beautiful edge-on spiral galaxy M101 that can be found just north of the last two stars in the Big Dippers handle. The Galaxy itself can be seen in modest equipment, so unless you have a telescope at hand, long exposure photography will be needed to pick up the light.
Detailed finder chart: http://www.astro.caltech.edu/ptf/11kyl_finder.png

Below is a picture of the Galaxy (M101) taken with a normal DSLR and a 300mm lens.

The pinwheel Galaxy (M101) in Ursa major

Return of the Arctic Aurora

2011-08-24T01:40:00.000-07:00

The midnight-sun period is a sore trial for amateur astronomers and northern lights photographers in teh high North, but after a long summer without stars (save one), the nights are finally starting to get darker. Last night I was watching the beautiful conjunction of Jupiter and the Moon when suddenly the first auroras of the season could be seen against the blue sky.

The skies are getting rapidly darker in the north now and with lots of activity on the Sun I believe this autumn and winter will indeed be a good season for northern lights. While waiting for the skies to get darker, why not read about the source of the northern lights - our explosive sun - in a new book release (see below)?

The first auroras in Tromsø for the season

Our Explosive Sun

2011-08-24T01:26:00.000-07:00

While waiting for the skies to get darker and the northern lights to be seen again, why not read about the source of the auroras in the new popular science book: "Our Explosive Sun - A Visual Feast of Our Source of Light and Life" by renowed astronomy researcher and writer Dr. Pål Brekke at the Norwegian Space Centre.
The book is scheduled for release in September/October and covers most aspects of our stormy star - The Sun - and there is, of course, a section about the Sun-Earth connection and how the Sun creates the amazing northern lights.

The book can be ordered here: http://www.springer.com/astronomy/extraterrestrial+physics%2C+space+sciences/book/978-1-4614-0570-2

Teaser from the book: Stormy Weather on the Sun - Beautiful Auroras on Earth

Arctic Waders vs. Lemmings / Arktiske vadere vs. Lemen

2011-08-21T11:03:00.000-07:00

The Little Stint / Dvergsnipe (Calidris minuta) and The Curlew Sandpiper / Tundrasnipe (Calidris ferruginea) are small waders with their breeding grounds in the High Arctic and their overwintering grounds in Africa and Asia. August and September are usually very good months for observing long-distance migrants on their migration south, and this autumn unusually many Little Stints and Curlew Sandpipers can be seen on the mudflats in Troms - with the Litttle Stints even outnumbering the Dunlins/Myrsnipe sometimes!

Why are there so many of these tiny waders this year? Some studies suggest that the breeding success of little stints and curlew sandpipers may be related to the abundance of lemmings (Lemmus lemmus). When there are few lemmings, predatory birds like e.g. skuas and snowy owls take many little stints and curlew sandpipers, but when lemmings are abundant, they prefer the lemmings. It is well known from all over Scandinavia that 2011 has been an extraordinary good lemming year http://nordlysfoto.blogspot.com/2011/05/norwegian-lemmings-lemenar.html with unusually many breeding pairs of Snowy Owls and other species that depend on the lemmings and maybe this is, at least part, of the reason why these two species are so abuntant this year?

A quick look on the Norwegian report system for birds: http://artsobservasjoner.no/fugler/ shows that the number of "expected reports" for these two species (compared to the number of reports from the same period from earlier years (2007 - ), have increased by 88% and 59% for curlew sandpipers and little stints respectively.

Other species such as dunlins, ringed plovers, ruffs, spotted redshanks, redshanks and sanderlings (and an occasional crazy bird-watcher) may also be seen on the mudflats around Tromsø..

Curlew Sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea)

Little Stint (Calidris minuta)

Curlew Sandpiper

Little Stint

Flock of Little Stints on Kvaløya, Norway

Is there a connection between some Arctic Waders and Norwegian Lemmings (Lemmus lemmus)?

Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2011

2011-08-17T18:00:00.000-07:00

This year, more than 700 spectacular entries were submitted to the prestigeful international photo-competition "Astronomy Photographer of the Year - 2011"

The competition, which is organised by the Royal Observatory Greenwich and Sky at Night magazine, has attracted both proffessional astro-photographers and enthusiastic amateur astronomers all over the world. Shortlisted entries include some truely stunning shots of our Universe and the judging panel of well known photographers and astronomers, including veteran astronomer Sir Patrick Moore of the BBCs Sky at Night, will not have an easy task.

I am, of course, hoping that my own entry "Living in the Universe" - a panorama from the coast of Kvaløya in Northen Norway (and also the front page of this blog) will make it to the top of APOTY 2011, but, as judging from earlier years competitions have shown, whatever image that will win will be a worthy winner.

Living in the Universe

The winners will be announced on 9 September 2011 - I wish all my fellow night-sky photographer colleagues good luck and I`m looking forward to see some spectacular shots on the exhibition at the Royal Observatory Greenwich this autumn.

As a teaser, some of the entries can already be seen in various newspapers and other media:

The Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/picture-galleries/8688878/The-2011-Astronomy-Photographer-of-the-Year-competition.html

Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/gallery/2011/aug/12/astronomy-photographer-year-2011-shortlist#/?picture=377796355&index=4

CNN: http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/europe/08/11/astronomy.space.pictures.greenwich/index.html?&hpt=hp_c2

Killer Whale family

2011-08-13T03:33:00.000-07:00

Killer whales, also known as Orcas (Orcinus orca) are some of the most charming animals of the sea, and now in August I was happy to encounter a very curious family group off the coast of Vesterålen.

Female orcas with a young animal (to the right)

The eye of a very curious old female

Killer whales are powerful swimmers

Three females surfacing together

Shearwaters - Oceanic Sea Birds

2011-08-03T05:19:00.000-07:00

Shearwaters are long-winged, elegant, and often very long-lived seabirds. In Norwegian waters, normally two different species of shearwaters may be encountered, the Manx Shearwater/Havlire (Puffinus puffinus) and the Sooty Shearwater/Grålire (Puffinus griseus).

The Manx Shearwater is currently, to my knowledge, holding the record for being the oldest known wild bird. Being ringed as an adult back in 1953, one bird that had/has its breeding area in Northern Ireland was caught again in 2003 at an age of 55 years. They nest in burrows in colonies especially around Great Britain and Ireland, but may be seen as far north as Norway. Outside the breeding season they live pelagic far out at sea.

The Sooty Shearwater is larger and darker than the Manx Shearwater. Most shearwaters are long-distance migrants in the extreme, but none more so than the Sooty Shearwater. Having their breeding areas in Antarctic and sub-Antarctic areas, the Sooty Shearwaters migrate northwards during the Antarctic winter. Tracking data suggest that they migrate north along the North American side of the Atlantic and then back south again on the eastern side of the Atlantic. The birds that we may see in Norwegian waters (typically in September) are thus probably on their southward migration and approximately 14000 km from their breeding colonies on the Falkland Islands.

The shearwaters in the Pacific are even more extreme and recent tagging data shows that they may cover a distance of 65000 km during their annual migration - to be compared with the diameter of the Earth which is 40000 km. It has also been seen from tagging data that they may cover a distance of 1000 km/day when they travel in the nutrient-poor areas around the equator and that they are capable of diving down to a depth of 68 meters.

Both the Manx and the Sooty Shearwaters feed on fish, squid, cephalopods and crustaceans and often follow whales to catch fish disturbed by the feeding of the whales.

Typical view of a Sooty Shearwater

Sooty Shearwater together with a Killer Whale/Orca

Sooty Shearwater

Manx Shearwater on a stormy day

Manx Shearwater next to the blow of a Sperm Whale

Another oceanic seabird, that is closely related to the shearwaters, can be seen in great numbers off the Norwegian coast - the Northern Fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis). Just like the shearwaters, fulmars spend most of their lives far out at sea and may become very old. They feed mostly on fish, but do not say no to a free lunch, like fish offal from a fishing-boat, or as here - a dead Sperm Whale.

Northern Fulmar

Northern Fulmars feeding on the carcass of a dead Sperm Whale

Sperm Whale - Spermhval

2011-07-24T07:36:00.000-07:00

The Sperm Whale (Physeter macrocephalus) is the largest of all the toothed whales. It is also one of the most widely distributed marine mammals of the world. In Norwegian waters, sperm whales are encountered mainly during the summer months when males migrate north to feed on e.g. squid and fish. Females and young animals stay in lower latitudes and are not seen as far north as Norway.

Together with the bottlenose whale, the sperm whale is the deepest diving mammal in the world and may dive down to dephts as great as more than 2500m. Most dives are, however, more shallow and typically around 400 m. Being such deep divers, sperm whales are able to stay under water for the longest period of all marine mammals. Typical dives last 30-40 minutes, but they may stay under water for 1,5 hours, making the sperm whale an animal of extremes.

At sea, sperm whales are very easy to distinguish from all other whales. The blow, which is directed at an angle of 45 degrees to the left, in addition to the huge squarish head, the colouration and diving behaviour make sperm whales one of the easiest whales to identify in the field.

Diving Sperm Whale off the North Norwegian coast

Sperm Whale off the coast of Andøya in Vesterålen

Normally sperm whales only show two thirds of their body above the surface, but this old male was

swimming with the fluke very close to the water surface giving a better idea of the look of the whale.

Just before a deep dive the whales show their large head

Diving sperm whale off the Norwegian coast

Minke Whale - Vågehval

2011-07-20T00:35:00.000-07:00

The Minke Whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) is one of the smallest baleen whales in the world. Only the poorly known Pygmy Right Whale is slightly smaller. Nonetheless, adult Minke whales grow up to 7-10 m long and may weigh 5-15 tonnes, and at a distance they may be confused with some of the larger baleen whales.

Minke whales usually show only very little of themselves at the surface and a small dorsal fin, who breaks the surface and rapidly disappear again, is usually all that it seen. They do not raise the fluke (tail fin) when they dive. Characteristic for the Minke whale is also that the blowholes and dorsal fin are often visible simultaneously, something that distinguish the Minke whale from all larger baleen whales (except the sei whale).

They are usually only seen briefly and when the sea is completely flat, and this was the case here in Vesterålen during the weekend.

Killer whales - Spekkhoggere

2011-07-16T21:24:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, several pods of killer whales / orcas (Orcinus orca) were feeding on fish off the coast of Andøya in Vesterålen in Northern Norway. With rather strong wind and grey clouds hanging thick over the ocean, the experience itself was just like the killer whales - Majestetic and in Black and White.

Hunting for fish

The huge dorsal fin of a large male

The dorsal fin of large males may reach 1,8 m

Female killer whale

Killer whales hunting for fish off the coast of Andøya in Vesterålen, Northern Norway

Killer Whales / Orcas

2011-07-03T06:08:00.000-07:00

Killer whales (Orcinus orca), is one of the most characteristic and well-known of all marine mammals. They are found in most oceans of the world, and the distinct colouration in black and white, the large size and the fascinating and complex social structures and behaviour have made killer whales famous.

The Norwegian populations of killer whales feed almost exclusively on fish, where herring (Clupea harengus) dominates the diet. To catch this elusive prey, Norwegian killer whales have adopted several highly specialised hunting strategies, including the famous carousel feeding where family pods of orcas herd schools of herring together.

Killer whales may be found in Norwegian waters all year round. The world-famous whale watching sites in the deep fjords of Nordland county, where the wintering grounds of herring was largely restricted in the past, is however, no longer any guarantee for seeing killer whales as the migration routes of the herring has changed a lot during the last decade/s.

Right now, large schools of herring and mackerel can be seen outside the coast of Vesterålen, and with them, the killer whales have arrived. Below are some pictures from the whale watching company "Arctic Whale Tours" situated in Stø, Vesterålen, Norway taken off the coast of Andøya yesterday evening. A truely spectacular meeting with these fantastic animals!

Killer whale (Orcinus orca)

Family group of killer whales in Vesterålen, Norway

Female together with a young killer whale

Killer whales

Large fish school outside Anda Nature Reserve

Life of Puffins / Lunde

2011-07-01T07:34:00.000-07:00

The Atlantic Puffin (Fratercula arctica) is a very popular species, both among nature photographers, bird-watchers, and other visitors to the areas where puffins may be seen. Right now, the breeding season is at its height along the Norwegian coast and around the breeding colonies, puffins can be seen flying back and forth with food to feed their chicks.

They nest in burrows on grassy cliffs and only spend time on land during the breeding season. The large and colourful beak is equipped with hooks, allowing the puffins to catch several fish in the beak before returning to land. On the pictures below it looks like most birds here in Vesterålen, Norway bring sand-eels and small herring back to feed their young.

Atlantic Puffin (Fratercula arctica)

Puffins on their nesting grounds

Puffin-burrows on a grassy cliff

Puffins out at sea

Most of the puffins in Vesterålen seem to return from the sea with sand-eels or herring

Atlantic white-sided dolphins - Kvitskjeving

2011-06-28T15:45:00.000-07:00

Perhaps the most colourful dolphin species of the world can be found along the Norwegian coast. With it`s strong colouration in white, yellow and black, Atlantic White-sided Dolphins (Lagenorhynchus acutus) look like they belong in tropical waters, but are in fact endemic to the cool and temperate waters of the North Atlantic.

Yesterday, I encountered a relatively large group of these beautiful dolphins playing and jumping in Andfjorden in Nordland. Not only is this dolpin species one of the most colourful, but also one of the more acrobatic. Reaching almost 3 m in length, the leaps and jumps are truely spectacular.

Together with the White-beaked Dolphin (kvitnos), the Atlantic White-sided Dolphin (kvitskjeving) are commonly referred to as "springer" in Norway, but a closer look will reveal relatively large differences between the two species.

Atlantic White-sided Dolphins

Breaching Atlantic white-sided Dolphin

Atlantic White-sided Dolphin breaking the water surface¨

Not often is it possible to see the underside of a marine mammal,

but with playful dolphins like this one most things are possible

Basking Shark - Brugde

2011-06-16T20:00:00.000-07:00

Today at work, I spotted an enormous basking shark (Cetorhinus maximus) feeding in the waters off Stø in Vesterålen.

The basking shark is the second largest fish in the entire world (only the whale-shark is bigger). The specimen outside Stø measured approximately 9 meters and was thus a fully grown adult shark close to the maximum length of the species. It was slowly swimming around with it`s mouth wide open, filtering the sea water for plankton. In spite of being such a large shark, basking sharks (like the baleen whales), filter-feed on plankton making the basking shark a harmless and "gentle giant" of the oceans.

Norwegian waters is the northernmost outpost for basking sharks, which is usually found in more warm-temperate waters. Once fairly abundant, basking sharks are now a rare sight in Norway due to over-exploitation (mainly for the liver and the fins which were sold for shark-fin soup). Today, the biggest threat for the sharks is ship strikes.

Below are some pictures of this strange and amazing shark, some of will be used for photo-identification in co-operation with The Shark Trust: http://www.baskingsharks.org/content.asp?did=26584 who is working for the protection of basking sharks and other sharks.

Basking shark close to the surface. The upper part of the mouth, the dorsal fin and the
caudal (tail) fin can be seen above the water surface. This individual was between 9-10 m long.

A local fishing boat passing the shark

Dorsal fin of the shark

Close-up view of the dorsal fin, which will be used to identify the shark in co-operation
with The Shark Trust: http://www.baskingsharks.org/content.asp?did=26584

Basking Shark (Cetorhinus maximus) in the evening light

Midnight Sun Eclipse

2011-06-03T06:19:00.000-07:00

At midnight between 1-2 June a rare eclipse of the Sun could be seen above the Arctic circle. In the evening, the weather looked bad, but the skies cleared up miraculously just in time for the start of the eclipse.

At the point of greatest eclipse (58% eclipsed), the Sun looked like a big smile in the sky. Some pictures from Kvaløya outside Troms below:

Beginning of the eclipse

During the point of greatest eclipse, the Sun was setting behind the mountains and for a while it almost looked like a second moon was eclipsing the sun from below..

Strange-shaped sun at midnight

Bluethroat - Blåstrupe

2011-05-25T05:12:00.000-07:00

The Bluethroat (Luscinia svecica) is perhaps one of the most characteristic birds of the North, with it`s strong colouration and imitative song. Having it`s overwintering grounds in Africa and Asia as far as India, most bluethroats arrive to their breeding grounds in mid-May, and today I was lucky to spend some time with this beautiful bird.

Norwegian Lemmings - Lemenår

2011-05-23T03:54:00.000-07:00

The Norwegian Lemming (Lemmus lemmus) is perhaps the most typical Scandinavian mammal. It`s distribution is being restricted to Norway, Sweden, Finland, making it endemic to Scandinavia. It may also be found in the westernmost areas of northern Russia like the Kola peninsula.

The population cycle of lemmings fluctuates dramatically, and if conditions are right, the population may rise to very high levels and in 2011 there has been many reports of lemmings from all over Norway indicating that this is one of the "lemming-years".

I therefore went out looking for this characteristic species in the inland of Troms, and sure enough, as soon as I had left the coast where I live, the roads were full of road-killed lemmings, but also many on the move and they could be seen in all sorts of areas and habitats including tidal zones where they were running like little "slippers" among wading birds like dunlins, red knots and oystercatchers..

It`s a wonderful species to see and with such high numbers of lemmings there is also a good chance that many other species will benefit from all the additional food like e.g. owls, birds of prey and arctic foxes to mention a few.

Norwegian Lemming (Lemmus lemmus)

On the run...

Norwegian lemming (Lemmus lemmus)

Many lemmings don`t survive when they cross the roads

Norwegian lemming (Lemmus lemmus)

Solar Eclipse at Midnight !

2011-05-11T03:46:00.000-07:00

In three weeks time (on 1 June) a very special and exclusive event will take place for those of us who live in the far North - A Solar Eclipse in the middle of the night!

This event can, of course, only be seen in areas located above the Arctic Circle where the sun doesn`t set during night. Here in Tromsø, the midnight sun period is "officially" between 20 May - 22 July, so the eclipse of the sun will happen right in the middle of the midnight sun-period.

In more detail, the solar eclipse will begin 22.43 (local time) on 01 June and at 23.33 the sun will reach the point of greatest eclipse. The end of the eclipse will be at 00.24 (local time) on 02 June. Click the headline above for more details on the NASA Eclipse Web Site.

The Sun will be eclipsed by approximately 60% at the point of greatest eclipe, so the event should look something like this (a picture from an earlier partial solar eclipse from Tromsø):

REMEMBER NEVER EVER too look directly at the Sun as it can cause permanent eye damage. Sun glasses IS NOT ENOUGH. In Norway, proper glasses for watching the eclipse can be ordered here: http://www.astrobutikken.no/storefront.php?c1=1

A place with a clear view of the Northern horizon will be the best place to watch the eclipse as the Sun`s altutide will only be 3 degrees.

Mark your calendar with the details and prepare yourself to witness a very rare pheneomenon - what could be better than sitting under the midnight sun on a summer evening and as a bonus get a solar eclipse? Good luck everyone with the weather and let`s hope for a wonderful evening!

Cutest in Norway?

2011-05-02T02:34:00.000-07:00

Today I had a nice meeting with one of our smallest and most cute mammals, the Northern Red-backed Vole (Rødmus/Rödsork), feeding on the first plant buds of the spring.

The Northern Red-backed Vole (Myodes rutilus, former Clethrionomys rutilus) is found in most of Northern Norway down to the county Nordland in the south, where the similar species Bank vole (Myodes glareolus) has it`s northernmost distribution limit. The two are easily separated by the very short and thick tail of Northern Red-backed voles.

Long-tailed Duck - Havelle

2011-04-09T09:32:00.000-07:00

Now during spring, many new birds are arriving in the North. One of my favourite birds, the long-tailed duck (Clangula hyemalis), being the only member of the genus Clangula, is still to be seen in the fjords, but the ducks will soon leave for their breeding habitats in tundra pools and marches on land.

Long-tailed Duck, male

Long-tailed Duck, female

Northern Lights Coronas

2011-04-08T05:11:00.000-07:00

April is the last month to see the auroras here around the Arctic circle, but just like last year, this April has proved to be very good with many spectacular evenings. There may still be several nights left with auroras before the dark skies disappear from the north. A small selection of pictures taken directly above the head in zenith:

Purple and green corona

Faint corona

Corona and clouds

Space Weather - The Sun

2011-03-30T06:32:00.000-07:00

Yesterday`s view of the northern lights from Kvaløya made it to the front page of the famous astronomy-site "Space Weather" - click on the headline above for news about the auroras and the sun !

Today I tried to image the beautiful sun-spots that is currently facing "our" side of the Sun with my small pocket camera hand-held in front of a pair of normal binoculars WITH SOLAR PROTECTION - REMEMBER NOT TO LOOK or point any instrument at the sun without proper protection!

Even using such simple equipment several of the sun-spots could be seen (sunspot nr 1176 is very prominent). A slightly better image :-) by the Solar Dynamic Observatory SDO/HMI can be seen here : http://www.spaceweather.com/images2011/29mar11/hmi4096_blank.jpg?PHPSESSID=uvv27flgf3pq73hn5936sk7536

The Sun on 30 March 2011 - click for larger picture.

Green Spring

2011-03-28T22:42:00.000-07:00

This season of northern lights is soon about to come to its end, but there is still almost a month left with dark enough skies to be able to see the auroras before the midnight sun starts to take over the night sky. Close to the mountain Store Blåmann on Kvaløya outside Tromsø a beautiful green band stretched from east to west together with the Milky Way

Watching the northern lights and the Milky Way

Corona over the constellations Boötes and Coma Berenices in the early morning hours

The Beehive cluster (M44) in the constellation Cancer over the snowclad mountains

Dolphins in Town !

2011-03-26T13:31:00.000-07:00

Lately, several flocks of white-beaked dolphins (Lagenorhynchus albirostris) have been seen around Tromsø in Northern Norway.

Here is a short video sequence of a group of dolphins just outside the airport in Tromsø on 21 March 2011 and a couple of images from March 2011 and from earlier visits of this species in Tromsø and on the coast of Troms.

White beaked dolphins outside Tromsø

White beaked dolphins outside Håkøya close to Tromsø

Group of white beaked dolphins in Tromsø

Acrobatic white beaked dolphin outside Senja, Norway

White beaked dolphins in Tromsø city center

White beaked dolphins outside Senja, Norway

Brightest Star

2011-03-22T00:05:00.000-07:00

The brightest star in the night sky - Sirius - is now putting on a nice show in the early evening hours. At northern latitudes, Sirius is often too low for observation, but now during spring the star is rising fairly early in the evening and due to its brightness it almost looks like a planet .

Most widely known as "the brightest star", Sirius is actually a binary star system consisting of the bright Sirius A and the white dwarf companion (Sirius B), but only a single point can be seen unless you happen to own a very powerful telescope.

Rising in the blue twilight hour Sirius is a beautiful sight.

Sirius over the mountain landscape of Kvaløya close to Tromsø, Norway

Perigee Moon

2011-03-19T14:03:00.000-07:00

Tonight`s Full Moon is the biggest in 20 years. To visualise the effect I compared tonight`s full moon with an image taken with the same equipment last autumn - and the size difference is actually BIG!

Size comparison between tonight`s full moon and a full moon from last autumn

Biggest Moon in 20 years

2011-03-18T05:53:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow, Saturday 19 March, the Moon will be full (check "The Current Moon Phase" to the right for details).

What is special about the Moon tomorrow is that tomorrow`s Full Moon will be bigger than usual - it will in fact be the biggest full moon in 20 years time and will be 14% larger than "the average Full Moon"!

The distance between the Earth and the Moon is not constant and sometimes the Moon is closer, sometimes it is further away. What is speciel about tomorrow is that the full moon coincides with the distance beeing at it`s minimum, "a mere" 356 557 km away.

Provided that I have clear weather, I will post a comparison between a "normal" full moon and tomorrow`s full moon after the weekend.

Why don`t try yourself? Take a picture of the full moon tomorrow with a tele-lens and compare it with a picture taken with the same lens at another time.

Almost Full Moon

Evening Planets

2011-03-15T13:50:00.001-07:00

How many of the planets in our solar system have you seen?

Now is the best time to catch a glimpse of one of the trickiest planets to see - Mercury.

Simply step out after sunset and look to the west, where there should be two bright "stars" fairly low in the horizon - the two "stars" being the planets Mercury and Jupiter, where Jupiter is the brightest of the two. Mercury is, however, unusually bright right now and should be easy to locate but it will fade rapidly in brightness towards the end of the month.

After sunset on the evening of 15 March, Mercury (being the smallest planet in our solar system) and Jupiter (being the largest) are separeted by only 2 degrees and can be seen right next to eachother which should be an amazing sight.

Having cloudy weather, I have not been able to take a picture of the planet-pair yet, but hopefully I`ll be able to post an image/finder chart by tomorrow evening.

Auroras - Time Lapse

2011-03-14T06:09:00.000-07:00

Tonight, auroras were dancing over the moonlit landscape of Kvaløya outside Tromsø in Northern Norway - here is a short part of a video sequence I took during the night, covering about 1,5 hours.

Polar Lights

2011-03-11T01:46:00.000-08:00

Strong Auroras could be seen tonight as a coronal mass ejection (CME) hit the magnetic field of the Earth and produced a very colorful and strong display.

The polar lights could be seen until the break of dawn at around 05.30 local time - maybe more will come tonight...

Moon and Auroras

Green and purple

View of the southern horizon - the auroras could be seen far south

Fast moving curtains in purple, red and green

Auroras and Sunspots

2011-02-16T04:26:00.000-08:00

Lately, the activity of the sun has increased dramatically, and as a result, spectacular auroras have been seen around the Arctic circle. Tonight, the solar wind hit the upper atmosphere of the Earth, and despite an almost full Moon that drowned out some of the lights, brilliant auroras could be seen dancing over the winter landscape.

Since the aurora activity is very strongly coupled to the activity on the Sun, I wanted to try to see if I could image our closest star, with only my small pocket camera at hand, and indeed, several large sunspots could be seen.

The big sunspot (called 1158) poses a 20% threat for Earth-directed X-flares according to experts (a flare being an explosion on the Sun happening when energy stored in twisted magnetic fields (i.e. usually above sunspots) is suddenly released. The "X" stands for the highest category in the scale of solar flares, meaning a major event that may trigger long-lasting radiation storms. Indeed, the X-flare from sunspot 1158 has unleashed the strongest solar flare in 4 years, so anyone interested in northern lights should be alert for more auroras in the nights to come, as a coronal mass ejection (CME) seems to be on its way to Earth.

Solar cycle 24 is starting to get really interesting and hopefully February/March will be full of northern lights!

I also want to add the warning that cannot be repeated to often: NEVER EVER look at the Sun without proper protection - DO NOT look at the Sun with your naked eyes and not through any kind of optical instrument. Looking at the Sun will damage your eyes permanently.

Large sunspots can now be seen on the Sun

Tonight strong green bands added to the beauty of the moonlit landscape

Note the long shadows in the snow by the almost full Moon

Beautiful colours from Russia

2011-02-13T01:42:00.000-08:00

Pine Grosbeaks (Pinicola enucleator) normally inhabit northern coniferous forests, being mostly a permanent resident. When food sources are scarce, they may however, be seen far away from their normal distribution in what is known as an irruption. After a good breeding season in the forests followed by a food source failure in the russian taiga, many birds may migrate far away from their normal range. This winter, food sources were good in Northern Norway with lots of rowan-berries (attracting large numbers of waxwings and thrushes), and this made many pine grosbeaks appear as far away from their normal range. Here are some images of a beautiful red male feeding on the male flowers of a spruce on Kvaløya on the outer coast of Northern Norway.

Night of Northern Lights

2011-01-14T03:18:00.000-08:00

Strong northern lights played over the moonlit mountains in Northern Norway tonight

Aurora Panorama - Ersfjorden, Kvaløya 13 Jan 2011

Northern Lights over the mountain "Store Blåmann" and Kaldfjorden, 13 Jan 2011

A meteor crossed Orion and went up my sleeve..

Northern Lights Photographer, 13 Jan 2011

The Solar System as seen from the Living Room

2011-01-10T09:37:00.000-08:00

The great advantage with astro-photo is that you don`t have to travel far in order to be under the stars, and all the images in this series has been taken from inside the house during the last couple of days.

Moon - Jupiter - Uranus: 8-11 January 2011

The Moon + Jupiter and an Iridium-satellite

Jupiter with the four Gallileian moons and Uranus

The moon right above Jupiter and Uranus, 10 January 2011

Auroras, 8 January 2011

4 January - A day full of Astronomical Events

2011-01-04T04:00:00.000-08:00

Today/tonight several interesting astronomical events can be seen in the sky:

The two large gas giants, Jupiter and Uranus are right now only half a degree away from eachother in the night sky - both can be seen with a pair of normal binoculars. Even if Uranus normally can be a bit tricky to observe, the planet has perhaps never been more easy to find (see the image below). This close to eachother, the planets won`t be again until 20 April 2024 :-)

One of the mid-winters large meteor showers (The Quadrantids) peaks tonight and may produce as many as 100 metoers/hr. An early Quadrantid meteor hitting the Earth`s atmosphere can be seen below. The solar wind also hit the atmosphere and produced nice northern lights:

High northern light activity produced stong auroras in red, green and purple:

Partial Solar Eclipse. In southern Scandinavia, a beautiful solar eclipse may be seen at sunrise on Jan 4. Here in Northern Norway, it is still polar night and the sun doesn`t rise above the horizon, so at northern latutudes the eclipse won`t be visible. This is how the latest solar eclipse looked as seen from Tromsø (remember NEVER to look at the Sun as it will cause permanent damage to your eyes):

It is cold outside - my photo equipment only managed a few hours outside in the bitter cold weather before the entire lens was covered with ice crystals - a good excuse to go in and get a cup of hot espresso:

Happy New Year

2010-12-31T06:32:00.000-08:00

Moon-Dogs

2010-12-28T20:14:00.000-08:00

"Sun dogs" is a common atmospheric phenomenon, where a coloured patch of light can be seen to the left and/or to the right of the sun and often also as a ring, or halo, around the sun. Less known and much more rare are moon dogs, which are caused by the refraction of moon-light by ice crystals in cirrostratus clouds. They can only be seen when the moon is bright and when the conditions for forming are right. Tonight a beautiful Moon Halo with Moon Dogs could be seen over Kvaløya in the early morning hours. In the lower image, the rising Venus can also be seen.

Moon Halo with Moon-dogs

Moon Halo with Moon Dogs and the planet Venus rising to the left in the image

Killer Whales and Humpback Whales

2010-12-28T15:26:00.001-08:00

Now, during late autumn and winter, large amounts of Norwegian spring spawning herring/sill/sild have migrated towards the coast of Northern Norway, and with the herring killer whales/späckhuggare/spekkhogger and humpback whales/knölval/knølhval have arrived and are now feasting on herring along the coast. As a marine biologist, I went south (to the area around Andøya in the county Nordland where several sightings had been made), to collect photo-ID pictures of the whales to be able to identify the individuals and learn more about their ecology. Already in the morning on the first day the characteristic blows of humpbacks could be seen far out in the fjord. With the help of my good friend and nature photographer Espen Bergersen and a local fisherman (thank you so much for your help Jann!), we went out at sea and found a large flock of humpback whales feeding together with killer whales in the area outside Dverberg. From land, a minke whale/vikval/vågehval was also observed. The most spectacular observations have been made from land since the whales use the land to trap the herring and are therefore feeding very close to land, so this is an exceptional opportunity to go whale watching from land, and thus, not disturb these otherwise vulnerable animals. If operators and private persons decide to go out at sea, remember to follow the guidelines for how to approach and behave around whales. http://www.ocean-sounds.com/eng/contact/ueber/wwf_oceansounds_hvalsafari-retningslinjer_2008_small/

Here are some pictures from a fantastic day in Andfjorden in mid-winter.

Two humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) together

Diving Humpback Whale

A large humpback approaching the boat

Killer Whales (Orcinus orca) in Andfjorden

Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae)

Meteors !

2010-12-27T15:15:00.000-08:00

Despite being in the middle of two major meteor showers (the Geminids that peaked in mid-December, and the Quadrantids that will peak on Jan 4) several bright meteors have been seen lately.

Below, two of the brighter meteors that I have been able to capture can be seen. Both pictures were taken from Andøya in Northern Norway.

Meteor over Andfjorden, Norway

Meteor as seen from Kvalnes, Northern Norway

Total Lunar Eclipse

2010-12-23T05:20:00.000-08:00

Early in the morning, 21st of December, I went out to Grøtfjord on Kvaløya to try and see the total lunar eclipse.

The weather looked good to start with, but already on the way out to the observing spot before the eclipse, thin clouds drifted in and I took a stop to photograph a dramatic lunar halo with the characteristic mountain "Store Blåmann" in the foreground.

More clouds drifted in and the first half of the eclipse was impossible to observe, but every now and then, the Moon could be glimpsed through the thin clouds and allowed me to get a few pictures of the event. A beautiful coppery-red hue could be seen during mid-eclipse and during the last part of the eclipse when the Moon dissappeared behind the mountains in the west.

The last stage of the eclipse

Total Lunar Eclipse, 21 December 2010

Watching the lunar eclipse from Grøtfjord

Lunar halo above the mountain "Store Blåmann"

Early in the morning, the Full Moon gave the landscape an eerie look

The Blue Hour

2010-12-20T13:17:00.001-08:00

The Polar Night period, when the sun doesn`t rise above the horizon, is my favourite time of the year, and today I tried to capture the special light that is known as "The Blue Hour" here in Northern Norway.

The city of Tromsø and the mountains on the mainland can be seen in the background.

Total Lunar Eclipse - 21 December 2010

2010-12-19T12:40:00.000-08:00

Total Lunar Eclipse - Alert:

Tomorrow (December 21) 2010 a total lunar eclipse will be visible here from Northern Norway.

The eclipse will happen early in the morning (for detailes - click on the link on the headline).

Last time a lunar eclipse could be seen here was on New Year`s Eve 2009/2010, but then only 8 % of the Moon was covered by the Earth (see the image sequence below), but this time 100% of the Moon will be covered by the earth`s shadow and the Moon will likely turn deep red due to the refraction of sunlight by the Earth`s atmosphere.

A good photo-opportunity if weather allows!

The last lunar eclipse visible from Norway was only a partial eclipse of 8% - 31 December 2009

Lenticular Clouds

2010-12-17T18:45:00.000-08:00

Today very special lenticular clouds/linseskyer appeared over Northern Norway

When strong wind blows over a mountain, large-scale "standing waves"/fjällvågor/fjellbølger may form on the downwind side - a phenomenon that may be problematic for airplanes since it creates a lot of turbulence.

If the temperature of the "standing wave" drops to the dew point, moisture in the air may condensate to form these spectacular clouds, called lenticular clouds, and today (17 December) these clouds, with the scientific name Altocumulus lenticularis (linsmoln/linseskyer) could be seen over large parts of the county Troms and Finnmark.

Auroras - Popular Science Article by Fredrik Broms

2010-12-16T13:04:00.000-08:00

As a northern lights photographer many people write to me and ask questions about northern lights. The three most frequently asked questions are:

1) What are northern lights?
2) Where and when can I see northern lights? and
3) How do I take pictures of northern lights?

Few things make me more happy than being able to show people their first northern lights, and still after many years and many nights with auroras I still get that same feeling every time, like it`s the first time I see them.

To answer some of these questions to a broader public, I have written a 4 pages popular science article for the leading Swedish Astronomy Magazine "Populär Astronomi" which will be available in the stores in December (nr 4, 2010)

With this article I hope to answer some of the questions about auroras and to give answers on how to maximize the chances of seeing and taking pictures of northern lights, no matter if you live around the Arctic circle or not.

Below are some examples of images that I have used to illustrate the text in the article:

A clear northern horizon and a simple composition is often to prefer

Imaging in front of a water surface can make even very faint auroras look impressive

A corona is one of the most spectacular kind of structures.

Cloudy weather, like here, doesn`t always have to be a bad thing,

and can add a dramatic effect to the image.

Like with most photography, an interesting composition makes the image more interesting

Including a fore-ground makes most images of auroras much more interesting and alive

Meteor Shower

2010-12-13T04:17:00.000-08:00

One of the best meteor showers of the year - the Geminids - are here again!

The peak in activity will be during the night between the 13th and the 14th of December, but the noghts before and after is usually also good. During the peak in activity as much as ca 100 meteors/hour can be seen from a dark locality (and last year, there were even more than that - I counted maximum 180/hour, and the brightest fireball even made the camera vibrate (which was naturally pointing in the wrong direction). It was the brighest meteor I have ever seen and the entire landscape was lit up as strong as during a full moon !

14 December 2010:

Cloudy weather during the entire night 13/14 Dec made all observations impossible, but in the evening on the 14th of Dec I managed to capture a relatively bright meteor with the camera.

A Geminid meteor, 14 December 2010

6 December 2010:

As early as the night between December 6/7 a bright geminid could be seen over Kvaløya:

An early Geminid meteor

Astrophotographer of the Year

2010-12-05T14:17:00.000-08:00

Today the local astronomy club "Tromsø Astronomi Forening" (TRAF) arranged an "Astronomy Day" at Tromsø University Museum and it was nice to see so many people coming to the event.

During the evening, the results from the local Astronomy Photographer of the Year - competition was announced, and I was happy and honoured to find my image "1 hour in the forest" awarded first place. The exposure time? That`s right, 60 minutes. This inspires me to spend many more nights out there in the cold under the night sky - many thanks to the organisers!

All the awarded pictures can be seen in the local newspaper: http://www.itromso.no/bilder/article411247.ece?imageIndex=1#pageTop or in the next number of the Norwegian Astronomy Magazine "Astronomi"

The winning image "1 hour in the forest"

Newly discovered comet !

2010-11-08T01:31:00.001-08:00

Now in November a hitherto completely unknown comet was discovered and given the name: Comet C/2010 V1 Ikeya-Murakami

The discovery was made AFTER perihelium (= when the comet is closest to the Sun and usually brightest), and it seems like the comet is in an outburst. The magnitude is smaller than Comet 103P Hartley 2`s, but with higher condensation.

What is even more spectacular about this very unexpected discovery is that the comet could hardly be easier to find in the sky - it can be seen right next to the planet Saturn, and both the comet and the planet could be observed in the same field of view through my birding scope (magn 20x) which is currently serving as my observing scope in the early morning.

10 November 2010

My second observation of Ikeya-Murakami. he comet continues its orbit and is heading towards another bright beacon, Venus, but will be difficult to observe the following days due to the interference of strong Moon-light.

Comet C/2010 V1 Ikeya-Murakami and Saturn

7 November 2010

My first observation of Comet Ikeya-Murakami and the 16th comet that I observe. The comet could only just be seen visually using averted vision, but in images a bullet-like shape could be seen, not unlike a mini-version of Comet 17/P Holmes. This image is a stack of 5x30 sec exposures at ISO 2000 using a 300mm lens in the early morning hours of Nov 7 when Saturn had just climbed above the east-southeastern horizon. Comet Hartley could be observed during the same time - it is not often two bright comets can be observed simultaneously!

Comet C/2010 V1 Ikeya-Murakami and Saturn

Astro Photography

2010-11-06T18:26:00.000-07:00

Being fortunate with clear skies tonight I did some astro-photography.

Early in the evening, the Milky Way (vintergatan/melkeveien) was clearly visible as a band in the south so I started off with some wide-angle pictures in my back-yard.

The Milky Way/Vintergatan/Melkeveien

The Milky Way

Later in the evening, I changed to a 300mm tele-lens to capture the two gas-giants Jupiter and Uranus in the same picture - the two planets are now to be found almost next to each other in the sky.

The planets Jupiter and Uranus

Switching back to my wide-angle lens and landscape photography, I was lucky to capture a rather slow and bright meteor streaking through the Earth`s atmosphere from Håkøya outside Tromsø. Jupiter can be seen to the left in the picture and the incoming clouds resulted in a halo around the planet.

Jupiter (to the left) and a meteor (to the right)

Northern Night

2010-11-04T07:44:00.000-07:00

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

Rowan-berry Diet in the North

2010-11-01T08:21:00.000-07:00

It has been a very good year for rown berries/rönnbär/rognebær in the north. With the winter came the rowanberries and with the rowanberries came all the birds with an appetite for the red berries - including a large invasion of waxwings/sidensvans.

Rain turned to snow

The waxwings/sidensvans have arrived

Waxwing/sidensvans with its favourite winter-diet

Eurasian Jay/Nötskrika/Nøtteskrike

Fieldfare/Björktrast/Gråtrost

Waxwing/Sidensvans

Gaps in a grey month

2010-10-28T22:30:00.000-07:00

The last couple of weeks have been hard for enthusiastic night-time photographers in the north (for instance like me...), with an ever present thick grey cover of clouds dominating the sky.

Recently, however, a small gap in the otherwise grey month offered a fantastic view of the northern lights - here shining directly in through my window.

Other times, the cloud cover has offered the view of some optical phenomena, like in this case, a classic 22 degree lunar halo, where the Moon and brilliant Capella at mag -0.48 (just above the Moon) manage to shine through the clouds.

22 degree lunar halo

Northern Lights - The Winter Season is here !

2010-10-12T02:37:00.000-07:00

Even if the autumn already has offered some nice northern lights, it is something very special to experience the first northern lights after the first snow of the season has fallen. At least to me, it somehow marks the beginning of the polar darkness period (mørkertiden in Norwegian) - my absolute favourite time of the year when everything gets more quiet, darker and more beautiful in so many ways.

Yesterday, both the snow and the northern lights arrived:

First snow of the winter + Auroras

Comet on its way to Earth

2010-10-02T07:53:00.001-07:00

A very interesting short-periodic comet (103P/Hartley 2) is currently on its way to the inner solar system in high speed, and will, according to magnitude predictions, most likely reach naked-eye visibility during the autumn. On November 20, the comet will pass the Earth at a "mere" distance of 18 million km, which makes this comet one of the closest that has ever passed by our planet!

Below, I will post regular updates about the comet during the year:

4 November 2010

Today is a unique day in the study of the comet - NASAs EPOXI mission will fly pass comet Hartley at a distance of only 700 kilometer ! As a ground-based observer, however, I am confined to my own back-yard and managed to get these images using a guided DSLR with a 300mm lens while waiting for the clos-up pictures from EPOXI.

The large green coma and the faint tail can be seen clearly in the pictures. The comet is now to be found in the constellation Canis Minor, not far from the bright 0-magnitude star Procyon, which acts as an excellent guide-star for anyone who wants to see the comet for themselves. The comet can still be seen easily with normal 8x42 binoculars, even from moderately light-polluted areas.

29 October 2010

After a long period with rainy weather and heavy cloud-cover, I finally got another glimpse of the comet again. Despite the fact that the 57% illuminated Moon was very close in the sky to the comet (the Moon in Cancer and the comet in Gemini) it was possible to see the comet in a normal pair of binoculars using averted vision.

The comet is now to be found fairly low in the constellation of Gemini and a series of stacked 30-sec exposures reveals a very large and diffuse coma (I estimate the degree of condensation to ~D.C. 2). The outer coma was estimated to be as large as the diameter of two full moons next to eachother, so the coma is LARGE now!

29 Oct 2010: Comet Hartleys way through the constellation Gemini

11 October 2010

Still, very cloudy weather dominates here in Northern Norway, but tonight a 30 min gap of clear sky between the snow-clouds appeared and then both the comet and some northern lights could be seen. The comet has now made its way into the constellation Perseus (see map below), and is fairly diffuse with a large coma with a low degree of condensation (D.C. 2-3).

11 Oct 2010: Comet 103P/Hartley 2 is now to be found in Perseus

11 Oct 2010: The comet could be seen as a green fuzz-ball between the snowclouds and aurorae

At higher magnification the false nucleus as well as the green inner and outer coma and a faint tail can be seen!

8 October 2010

Tonight I only got a tiny gap in the cloudcover and only managed three shots during my 15-minutes long observing session. With very strong wind and no time for polar alignment, I simply just tried a 10 sec shot at high ISO (6400) in cover of the house as the comet passed by the famous double cluster.

So, not excactly optimal conditions, but I was happy to notice that the comet could be seen clearly through 8x42 binoculars in sub-optimal conditions and must have increased in brightness since last time I observed it. I had no time for any own magnitude estimates, but according to other observers, the magnitude is now somewhere around 5-6.

8 Oct 2010: Comet 103P/Hartley 2 passing the double cluster

3 October 2010

Promising news: Already now on October 3, is comet Hartley 2 well visable in a pair of standard 10x42 binoculars and offered a fine imaging opportunity when tonight it passed just below the constellation Cassiopeia (not far from Shedar, which acts as a good guide to finding the comet).

Below, the comet (glowing in green due to the presence of cyanogen gas) is passing close to NGC 281 (also known as the Pacman-nebula) - a large gasous-cloud (glowing in red):

3 Oct 2010: Comet 103P/Hartley 2 (to the left) and NGC 281 (to the right) in Cassiopeia

Astronomy Photographer of The Year 2010

2010-09-16T16:15:00.000-07:00

The Winning Image "Surrounded by Space"

Each year, a highly prestigeful international photo-competition is arranged by the Royal Observatory Greenwich, UK. The competition: "Astronomy Photographer of The Year" is divided into three main categories, "Earth and Space", "Our Solar System" och "Deep Sky", where the best astronomy pictures and astrophotographers of the world compete about the title.

This year, more than 500 photographers from 25 different countries entered the competition. I was therefore very happy and honoured to receive information from the jury that one of my images "Surrounded by Space", showing a display of intense northern lights framed by birch branches in a northern forest with the constellation Cassiopeia in the center, was elected one of the winning images in the ceremony in London.

The other winning images can be seen in National Geographic News or in an audio slideshow produced by BBC: www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11213528

Arctic Waders in Troms

2010-09-03T05:39:00.000-07:00

During the autumn large numbers of waders are passing through the area on their way south and can now be seen resting in the tidal zone around Tromsø.

Right now, big flocks of Dunlins (kärrsnäppa/myrsnipe), Curlew Sandpipers (spovsnäppa/tundrasnipe) and Little stints (småsnäppa/dvergsnipe) can be observed.

Curlew Sandpiper/Spovsnäppa/Tundrasnipe (Calidris ferruginea) together with Little Stints/Småsnäppa/Dvergsnipe (Calidris minuta)

Little Stint/Småsnäppa/Dvergsnipe (Calidris minuta)

Three Little Stints/småsnäppor/dvergsniper together at Kvaløya, Troms

Summer in Lofoten

2010-08-01T17:29:00.000-07:00

After a season of intense fieldwork as a marine mammal biologist in Vestfjorden, Lofoten I have now returned home to Troms again and it is time to sum up some of the impressions.

It was a long field-season with many wonderful and magic moments out at sea, including encounters with both our smallest cetacean, the Harbour Porpoise and our largest, the Fin Whale, Unfortunately there were also too many encounters with whalers and the sound of the harpoon going off in the hunt for the minke whale as Norway is still one of the few whale hunting countries in the world. The small selection of pictures below will have to speak for themselves.

Slavonian Grebe/Svarthakedopping/Horndykker

White-tailed Sea Eagle/Havsörn/Havørn

Herring Gull/Gråtrut/Gråmåke in rainy weather

Northern Wheatear/Stenskvätta/Steinskvett

Cross Jellyfish/Korsmaneter (Staurophora mertensi)

Sea Urchin/Sjöborre/Kråkeboll (Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis)

Vestfjorden offered first-class fishing for cod and mackerell !

The shy Harbour Porpoise/Tumlare/Nise (Phocoena phocoena)

Two Long-finned Pilot Whales/Grindval outside Moholmen in Vestfjorden

Long-finned Pilot Whale/Grindval/Grindhval (Globicephala melas)

Tail-slapping Long-finned Pilot Whale/Grindval

Curious Long-finned Pilot Whale/Grindval/Grindhval

Long-finned Pilot Whales/Grindval in Vestfjorden

Norwegian whaler hunting for minke whales/vikval/vågehval in Vestfjorden

Minke Whale/Vikval/Vågehval (Balaenoptera acutorostrata)

New photo-blog

2010-07-20T18:08:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my northern lights photography blog!

On this blog I will try to share my passion for the night sky and astro-photography. By posting news, alerts and information about auroras and other astronomy-related topics, I hope to be able to inspire people to go out and enjoy the world at night.

A very peaceful, silent world, but also a world full of action is waiting to be discovered right above our heads, and I never stop being surprised over how much of our universe that can be seen and photographed from our own backyards with simple equipment.

Have you ever seen another galaxy or a nebula? Have you ever seen the rings of Saturn, the true Lord of the rings? Have you seen the sky suddenly filled with shooting stars or suddenly turn green and purple by auroras? Have you ever seen a comet in the sky? For all this, all you need is a pair of binoculars and our closest galaxy can even be seen with the naked eye.

On this blog I will update about coming events, such as bright comets, solar and lunar eclipses, meteor showers, how to find and view the different planets and other members of our solar system and much more. My main focus will be to inform about one of the most spectacular shows on Earth - the northern lights

I very much welcome any comments or suggestions how to improve this site, and as a photographer, I am always interested in comments on how I can improve my photography.

Carpe Noctem - Seize the Night !

As a photographer, I am mostly "nocturnal"