12
OCT
2024

Chasing the lights

I was out at dusk training for an upcoming marathon when I noticed the a big auroral display filling the sky. Pillars of reds and green were clearly visible, despite the glow form the setting sun. With 5k still to run, I set off as fast as I could to get back home and grab the...
08
JUN
2024

Purple Aurora

I’d been keeping my eyes glued to the aurora forecast eagerly awaiting the arrival of multiple X class CME’s from giant sunspot group AR 3664. The animation below shows the development of the gigantic structure as it made it’s way across the Sun’s surface....
21
JUL
2020

Seeing the light – comet NEOWISE

Comets have been seen as bad omens and harbingers of doom throughout much of history. Our understanding of the universe has certainly improved since then, but with the 2020 global pandemic turning out the way is has, perhaps the old tales have some merit after all. Captured at...
27
FEB
2020

The Southern Cross

Recently I was lucky enough to take a winter break on the Dominican Republic on the Caribbean island of La Española. At just 18 degrees above the equator, this is by far the furthest south I’d ever ventured. On the last night of the trip we decided to stay up until 5am to...
07
MAR
2016
Aurora Borealis from Yorkshire, England

Aurora season

Spring is aurora season, and just before midnight last night a display of the northern lights lit up the sky. Taking a test shot from the window confirmed the alert from my phone app, so I headed out the door. The display had already started to subside once I’d defrosted...
18
NOV
2015
Orion over Helvellyn

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

Orion rises over the jagged slopes of Helvellyn in the Lake District. The figure standing in silhouette on England’s third highest mountain is dwarfed by the constellation. Taken from the lower slopes of Striding Edge, a friend wilfully volunteered to stand on the edge of a...
18
MAR
2015
aurora borealis

Aurora through the mist

Last night a solar storm hit Earth producing one of the strongest auroras of this solar cycle. Unfortunately for me, a misty evening drowned out much of the show. All but for 20 minutes when the silent display flared up strongly enough for me to catch a glimpse…
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