Can I attribute this night time phenomena to the Aurora Borealis? Shot at midnight so the sun had set hours earlier and there is no light pollution in this part of the Inner Hebrides.
Yes, it was facing the North and in some shots there was a little 'green'. With the naked eye we could see little flashes of green on the left of the image. I've driven this road many times at night and the sky is usually black so something different was happening.
there appears to be a distinct light source emanating from the horizon below the clouds, the clouds dont look back lit they look lit from that source.
Yup, however, looking at GoogleMaps Tobermory would be on the left side of the image and the right side (where the light source is) has one road with just a few street lamps. Next time i'm passing at midnight will try to replicate the shot :)
The color of the light has that distinct "sodium vapor" look to it. The pattern is exactly what you'd expect from man-made light sources reflected off clouds.
From Google Maps, the area does look reasonably remote, but believe me, when you get some mid-level clouds in the way and with an exposure time in the two-minute range, it's amazing how much reflected light you see.
Knowing the Tobermory area, this is not some man-made light, no way. And with the Aurora activity that was reported last night, this very well might be an Aurora sighting. Have seen pictures on Facebook (search for Shetland Wildlife) with the same kind of orange/green colours.
Knowing the Tobermory area, this is not some man-made light, no way. And with the Aurora activity that was reported last night, this very well might be an Aurora sighting. Have seen pictures on Facebook (search for Shetland Wildlife) with the same kind of orange/green colours.
Well, it's definitely reflecting from the bottom of that cloud deck... auroras are 60-100 km above ground level, so *way* above any cloud deck. The light source is, almost without doubt, man-made. Remember this is nearly a 2-minute exposure.
txs for the input Gents. It certainly was a strange night. After a while we could see green flashes on the left side of the horizon (Tobermory would be there). Kees, I concur as Tobermory is a small town and the brightest part of the light would be over Aros if my map reading is correct, no street lights or houses.
Aurora or not, I like the image and it was no ordinary night. It started raining around 00:30 so we headed home just as the stars started to come out so will have to revisit another day :)
