Lurid: unpleasantly bright in colour, especially so as to create a harsh or unnatural effect.

Like many in recent days, I bore witness to a spectacular Aurora Australis thanks to a rather large Coronal Mass Ejection from the surface of the sun.

This frame from Tinderbox Point looking across the D'Entrecasteaux Channel to Dennes Point on Bruny Island with the lights of South Arm at the left. Southern Tasmania.

The stars of the rising Milky Way are somewhat obscured by the light show but the constellation Crux is just above that streak of space junk in the upper center.

Hard to believe the colours but there they are. The reds have actually been backed off a little to get some detail in the middle of that flare.

First outing with my new (second hand) Nikon Z 14-24mm f/2.8 lens. Lucky it did not disappoint or it might have joined my boots in getting wet...

Nikon Z6, Nikkor Z 14-24mm f/2.8 S, 10 secs at f/4, ISO 1000. FL~15mm

Tags:   Aurora Aurora Australis coronal mass ejection Tasmania Tassie Tassie Style Bruny Island D'Entrecasteaux Channel Dennes Point Southern Lights Nikon Nikon Z6 Nikon Mirrorless Z6 Nikon Z Mount Nikon Z Nikon Lenses Nikon Nikkor Z 14-24mm f/2.8 S Nikon Z 14-24mm f/2.8 S Nikkor Z 14-24mm f/2.8 S Wide Angle Wide Angle Lens Lurid Long Exposure Long Exposure Photography Astrophotography Astro

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What can I say? Shot from my backyard at 21:44:19 hours AEST on May 11, 2024.

Aurora Australis Corona manifesting right above. This is not an unusual view or type of the Aurora. Basically the ribbons and beams are right above the viewer and give the appearance of a vortex. What is unusual is the strength of the magnetic storm that saw such a strong aurora over most of mid-latitude Terra.

Someone told me the red bands are some 200-300km in height. It would be such a thing to see from the ISS in three dimensions.

As with my previous post from this major solar storm, bugger all post-work to the NEF beyond exposure, white balance (off the freshly painted barge-board on my cottage's gable) and minor tonal adjustments in NIK Vivezia.

First and second magnitude stars of the rising Milky Way Core are above the TV aerial. Constellation Crux aka Southern Cross at the top of the frame, a little right of center.

Nikon Z6, Nikkor Z 14-24mm f/2.8 S, 10 secs at f/5, ISO 1000 ~15mm

I am so impressed with this new lens...

As for the title? ;-)

Tags:   Aurora Aurora Australis coronal mass ejection Tasmania Tassie Tassie Style Southern Lights Nikon Nikon Z6 Nikon Mirrorless Z6 Nikon Z Mount Nikon Z Nikon Lenses Nikon Nikkor Z 14-24mm f/2.8 S Nikon Z 14-24mm f/2.8 S Nikkor Z 14-24mm f/2.8 S Wide Angle Wide Angle Lens Lurid Long Exposure Long Exposure Photography Astrophotography Astro Hobart Hobart Tasmania Hobart Streets New Town, Tasmania Douglas Adams Great Prophet Zarquon

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From the Aurora Australis event of May 11th, another frame looking to the north-east over Dennes Point, Bruny Island, Tasmania. Constellation Crux (Southern Cross) in the top part of the image and the 1st and 2nd magnitude stars of the Milky Way obscured by the aurora itself just showing a couple of red bands forming.

I saw a post from another Tassie shooter alluding to an auroral Dune formation in the southern sky on that night. Their post showed the same green, sand-ripple like formation as in this pic.

I knew that had around four frames of the feature but I'd deleted them in the first pass thinking they were were just green tinged low cloud. I even had a photo of the rear screen on my phone so I knew I'd blown them away :-(

I had even re-formatted the card!!

This aurora type is in fact only recently identified and quite rare. After being quite pi**ed at myself, luckily remembered a bit of software on my old PC. Sure enough, I was able to recover them! Yay!

Disaster Averted.

More info on the Dune formation here: phys.org/news/2020-01-citizen-scientists-northern.html

Nikon Z6, Nikkor Z 14-24mm f/2.8 S, 10 secs at f/4, ISO 1000, 18:24 hrs, May 11th 2024

Note: Posted the wrong image initially... time for a sleep.

Tags:   Aurora Aurora Australis coronal mass ejection Tasmania Tassie Tassie Style Bruny Island D'Entrecasteaux Channel Dennes Point Southern Lights Nikon Nikon Z6 Nikon Mirrorless Z6 Nikon Z Mount Nikon Z Nikon Lenses Nikon Nikkor Z 14-24mm f/2.8 S Nikon Z 14-24mm f/2.8 S Nikkor Z 14-24mm f/2.8 S Wide Angle Wide Angle Lens Lurid Long Exposure Long Exposure Photography Astrophotography Astro Dune Aurora

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From the Aurora Australis event of May 11th. This frame looking to the south-west over North West Bay, the D'Entrecasteaux Channel and Bruny Island, Tasmania.

The small dormitory towns of Conningham, Kettering and Woodbridge being the clusters of lights in the frame.

The large star in the upper middle is Canopus.

For some reason this is my favourite image of the aurora from that evening. I think it's the majestic sweeping arc of the magenta bands against the green 'dune' formation together with the wonderful eucalyptus and the beautiful indigo of the southern sky. The unsolicited headlight beam and those couple of clouds really helps it along.

There was so much colour going on behind me but this one really does it for me :-)

Not an image for the phone, make it big.

Nikon Z6, Nikkor Z 14-24mm f/2.8 S, 10 secs at f/4, ISO 1000, 18:30 hrs, May 11th 2024

Tags:   Aurora Aurora Australis coronal mass ejection Tasmania Tassie Tassie Style Bruny Island D'Entrecasteaux Channel Southern Lights Nikon Nikon Z6 Nikon Mirrorless Z6 Nikon Z Mount Nikon Z Nikon Lenses Nikon Nikkor Z 14-24mm f/2.8 S Nikon Z 14-24mm f/2.8 S Nikkor Z 14-24mm f/2.8 S Wide Angle Wide Angle Lens Lurid Long Exposure Long Exposure Photography Astrophotography Astro Dune Aurora magenta Woodbridge Conningham Electrona Kettering North West Bay

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Dennes Point, Bruny Island under the ridiculous colours generated by the huge geomagnetic storm of 11 May, 2024.

Stars of the rising Milky Way clearly visible in the upper center. Bugger all post. Tone adjustments, curves, very fine tweaks of white balance. Localised structure in Vivezia. Just nuts...

Full size - get amongst it :-)

Nikon Z6, Nikkor Z 14-24mm f/2.8 S, 10 secs at f/4, ISO 1000. FL~15mm 2024-05-11, 18:43:35 AEST.

Tags:   Aurora Aurora Australis coronal mass ejection Tasmania Tassie Tassie Style Bruny Island D'Entrecasteaux Channel Dennes Point Southern Lights Nikon Nikon Z6 Nikon Mirrorless Z6 Nikon Z Mount Nikon Z Nikon Lenses Nikon Nikkor Z 14-24mm f/2.8 S Nikon Z 14-24mm f/2.8 S Nikkor Z 14-24mm f/2.8 S Wide Angle Wide Angle Lens Lurid Long Exposure Long Exposure Photography Astrophotography Astro

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