Excited to Ground State - a photo on Flickriver

Shot this on on march 11th, 2011 in Ulsfjord, close to Tromsø.

The colors of the aurora are decided by the amount of energy absorbed, and wheater it is
oxygen or nitrogen (atoms) emissions of photons in the earths upper atmosphere colliding with the solar winds. When these atoms collides with solar winds they get "excited", or ionized.

When oxygen emissions collide, which is the most common, the color of the aurora is mostly green.

When nitrogen emissions collide, which is more rare, the color is blue or red depending on the state the atoms remains in. Red if the atoms returns to ground state from excited state.

Hence the title.

The auroral activity is from 100-500km altitude. The greener colors are lower at about 100-200km, and the red from 200km to 500km altitude. This is also visible in this picture with both green and red aurora, where the red goes much higher.

An absolutely fantastic evening this was, dead silent waters, cold (-5) and no winds whatsoever.

What just annoyes me a tiny bit is that after I had shot a few of these shots, I took a tiny break,
and during that tiny break the BIGGEST meteor I have ever witnessed came over my head and continued out the sky over this beautiful fjord. It was as wide as the ray in the middle of the auroras here. I was like 5-6 meters away from the tripod which was perfectly positioned for having captured it. If I had got that meteor in the shot as well, I guess somebody at NASA could have been interested, since it was the biggest thing I have ever seen. You could see it burning up when entering the atmosphere, going from yellow to orange/red, until disappearing behind the horizon.

Well, I guess coincidences and luck (or the lack of it) often decides weather to make or break.

Regardless, I think this picture ranks a high among my shots so far, due to the spectacular color-range.

Hope you enjoy it,

Canon EOS 5D Mark II + Nikon 14-24G AF S @ f/2.8, ISO 2500, 15sec

Hit "L" on your keyboard or click on the picture to view larger on black.
Although, sharpness is best preserved in full resolution version.

best reg.
Ole

PS! PLEASE PLEASE no flashy big group icons!! Real comments are always welcome, positive and constructive negative, but PLEASE spare me of those fancy flickr-idol logos!! Comments with huge pictures/logos in it will be removed. Please don't invite me to groups with the purpose of commenting on 3 pictures etc.

AGAIN! I have been deleting lot's of meaningless comments lately with nothing more than a huge logo inviting me into groups for commenting on pictures. I will comment on the pictures that I like, and I will prioritize the work of the excellent photographers that I follow! PLEASE do not invite me into these groups, spare your energy! Those logos are so impersonal I'd rather you don't post anything. Please respect this!!

For more pictures, follow me on facebook:
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Ole

Taken on: March 15, 2011

Tags:

aurora boralis

northern lights

tromsø

troms

canon

landscape

fjord

red aurora

dreamscape

nikon

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