This image was taken from Knockbain near Munlochy on the Black Isle on 30 October 2003 using a Pentax K1000 SLR with standard 50mm lens (f/1.2) and a 10 second exposure on Kodak 800 asa film. The Pleiades are just visible in the lower section of the red glow.

Maarten

Canon powershot G2 mounted on a tripod,
10 second exposure f8.0, ISO 100

Canon powershot G2 mounted on a tripod,
10 second exposure f8.0, ISO 100

Canon powershot G2 mounted on a tripod,
10 second exposure f8.0, ISO 100

Canon powershot G2 mounted on a tripod,
10 second exposure f8.0, ISO 100

Canon powershot G2 mounted on a tripod,
10 second exposure f8.0, ISO 100

I came home from work on 20 November 2003 and it was dark at 18:00h UT but there was a hint of a glow from the north west. Yes - it was a display of the Aurora Borealis - The Northern Lights.

I got my clunky old manual Zenit E and just started snapping using exposures in the region of 15-20 seconds. The lens was a 58mm Helios and the aperture setting was f/2 and an ISO 400 film was used.

This is one of the dramatic pictures I got from my back garden - it was scanned from the resultant prints. The view is almost directly overhead, right into the corona of the Northern Lights.

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A scanned film shot of a strong Autumn 2003. Unusual to see such a strong display over town, considering the light pollution.

Pauline Macrae

Facing North over Inverness. Taken in Autumn 2003 on film and scanned onto computer.

Pauline

The Aurora was filling most of the sky from NW to the East. This photo looks almost directly overhead from our house on the outskirts of Inverness. This was the first Northern Lights display I have ever seen. Due to the excited/chaotic nature of the photo shoot I didn’t have time to document exposure times etc.
Pentax MESuper. 50mm f/1.7 Pentax lens. Kodak iso 200 film or was it Tesco iso 400? Err… Exposure time around 10-30 seconds. Tripod mounted camera perched on picnic table.

Les

Stunning streams of green and blue colour show in this shot of the aurora that took place on the night of November 7th, 2004. Notice the contrast against the orange glow of the streetlit clouds.

Taken using a Canon Powershot 4mp digital camera (tripod-mounted), 10 second exposure at f8.

JG

The asterism of the Plough or 'big dipper' shows up strikingly well against the eerie green glow of the aurora in this shot taken in November 2004.

Taken using a Canon Powershot 4mp digital camera (tripod-mounted), 10 second exposure at f8.

JG

This has got to be my most succesful Northern Lights picture yet. This corona was right at the zenith and so bright you could see the bright pale green and rosy red streaks of light emanating from all around it. The streaks were fanning out racing toward the north-west. The bright "bloom" in the lower left corner is light from the nearly full Moon! This was an extremely intense, short-lived storm - it only lasted about 30-40 minutes but I am oh so glad I saw it and had my camera ready.

Image was taken using a Nikon Coolpix 5700, 15sec, f/2.8, fl=9mm, ISO 200 then processed with Adobe Photoshop CS.

www.astrophotos.plus.com

Another picture of the fabulous aurora that took place on 23rd September 2006. Notice the two distinct green arcs and the bright 'searchlights' shining up through them. The subtle reddish patch to the right of the picture was not visible to the naked eye. The stars of Ursa Major are at top left and Auriga to the right hand side.

Nikon Coolpix 5700 piggybacked on motor driven LX50, 20sec exp at ISO200, f2.8, wide angle teleconverter, processed with Photoshop CS.

www.astrophotos.plus.com

Canon powershot G2 mounted on a tripod,
10 second exposure f8.0, ISO 100