Saw my first NLCs! Thanks to John for the text, we actually texted each other simultaneously about the NLC sighting! Can't believe I haven't noticed them before but I suppose it could be that my northern horizon isn't very good. They are definitely on a par with the northern lights, perhaps a bit more creepy and less dynamic. I am sure that a really big display would be unbelievable!
Cheers guys! How did the display compare with last Friday's Martin? From yours and others amazing pics, it was stronger? Do the NLCs ever cover the whole sky or are they always in the North? Cheers, Robert.
Post by Martin Mc kenna on Jun 10, 2006 13:04:51 GMT
Yip that was a nice display last night visible from 23.00 - 01.15 BST. John and i independently spotted it while talking over the phone, we watched it brighten and grow fairly rapidly. The NLCs were a white, type 3 brightness, extending 120* in azimuth from the NW - NE sky through Lynx, Auriga, Perseus and Andromeda with a maximum elevation of 35*. TYPE II, IIIb, S? structure was present in the forms of veils, ripples and wisps. The rapid western motion of the NLCs could be seen in real time and Capella seemed to flicker rapidly when the NLCs passed in front of the star. Nice show..
There was another sign in the Heaven, and behold a great red dragon...And his tail draweth a third part of the stars in Heaven.
Post by Martin Mc kenna on Jun 10, 2006 13:07:28 GMT
Hi Robert
It was a nice extensive fairly bright display however it did not even touch on last friday's spectacle. That was the best one of the season so far..im sure we will get even bigger displays in the very near future!
There was another sign in the Heaven, and behold a great red dragon...And his tail draweth a third part of the stars in Heaven.
Post by Martin Mc kenna on Jun 10, 2006 14:02:30 GMT
WOW Robert that is spectacular! You can really see the rapidly changing morphology of the NLC structure as it drifts west and your analogy to smoke is a very good description!
Could you tell me how you go about making an NLC animation like that?
Thanks in advance and keep watch tonight for further activity. I have noticed a trend were the NLCs would appear for a burst of 3 -4 days in a row followed by a period of no sightings then back to another burst. We appear to be in one of these bursts of acivity now. I have seen NLCs here on Thur and Fri nights so lets hope for more tonight.
About the animation, the good news is that it can be done using free software!! I use Virtualdub and windows VCM codec 9. Using Virtualdub you can import a sequence of images as a batch. Then you can use the filters to crop and resize the frames into hi-def resolutions. I will do a tutorial with screenshots at some point. Robert.
Post by Martin Mc kenna on Jun 12, 2006 13:22:47 GMT
Thanks very much for the information Robert. I would really like to give this a go although its a little bit over my head. I look forward to your tutorial.
Thanks again
There was another sign in the Heaven, and behold a great red dragon...And his tail draweth a third part of the stars in Heaven.
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