April 2004
Aurora Gallery
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Summary: A solar wind gust (possibly a coronal mass ejection, CME) hit Earth's magnetic field on April 3rd and sparked bright auroras over Scandinavia for several hours. Then, faint auroras appeared over Canada and Alaska on April 8th (due to a solar wind stream) and April 9th (because of a weak CME). See also the March 2004 aurora gallery.

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Unless otherwise stated, all images are copyrighted by the photographers.


  Photographer, Location Images Comments

Bruce Cowan,
Near Vífilssaðavatn, Reykjavík, Iceland
Apr. 15
#1, #2, #3, #4

There are some clouds and it was very windy. Minolta X-300 SLR 50mm lens ISO 800 f/1.7 exposures 3-5 sec.

Pekka Parviainen,
SW-corner of Finland
Apr. 03
#1

While Venus-Pleiades were setting a sudden aurora burst took place and a curtain tip rolled pass the pair.

Tom Eklund,
Toijala, Finland
Apr. 03
#1, #2, #3, #4, more

This nice display echoed the numerous good CME auroras of the past few years. Wonderful tall and bright curtains that you almost never see here during normal CH stream auroras. At the time the aurora was actually very good and bright.

Poul Jensen,
Fairbanks, Alaska
Apr. 08
#1, #2, #3, more

Venus setting under auroras: Auroral activity had declined for the night as I got out, so my actual target here was Venus setting. But with 30 sec. exposures at f1.8 and ISO800, even hardly visible aurora will show up. Photo details: Canon 50mm f1.8 on Digital Rebel.

Movies #2 and #3 are avi-files made with DivX (requires a free codec you can download at http://www.divx.com/divx/).

Rémi Boucher,
Near Sherbrooke (Qc), Canada
Apr. 08
#1, #2, #3

We had to wait for a long time before we finally saw some northern lights. It sparked just before the beautiful moonrise. The show was brief, but even if we had to wait 3 hours, it's always a great reward. Details : Nikon Coolpix 4500, 400ISO, 20 to 30sec. exposures.

Mike O'Leary,
Fairbanks, Alaska
Apr. 06
#1, #2, #3

These bright auroras were visible even through the high, thin clouds covering Fairbanks. Canon 10D digital camera, iso 800, 24mm f/1.4L lens @1.4.

Lyndon Anderson,
15 miles north of Bismarck, North Dakota, USA
Apr. 08
#1, #2, #3, more

Picture #3 is looking to the northwest (Venus & Pleiades, along with the northern lights). There were numerious small substorms during the hour that I viewed the northern lights.

Yuichi Takasaka,
Kincolith, British Columbia, Canada
Apr. 08
#1, #2, more

Discrete Aurora appeared tonight. Pentax *istD, 20mm lens, f2.8, 30sec.

Pete Nash, of Inverurie, Scotland,
looking through the window of an airplane, 33000 feet over Hudson Bay
Apr. 07
#1, #2, #3, #4,

I was flying over Hudson Bay on a 747 from Los Angeles to London. Oddly enough, these auroras were only visible from the south side of the aircraft and lasted about 20 minutes. Getting these pictures wasn't easy as there was also a full moon to the south and the cabin inside the aircraft wasn't completely dark and full of people! I used a Minolta 7000AF, 200ASA with between 10 and 15 secs exposure at F4 -F5.6

Philippe Moussette,
St-Elzéar Québec Canada
Apr. 08
#1, #2, more

I photographed these timid auroras using my digital rebel camera and 28mm lens. Exposure time=20s at 800 ASA.

Mark Golub,
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Apr. 08
#1, more

Nikon Coolpix 4500 ISO 400 4 Sec, f/2.8

Chuck Johnson,
Cleary Summit, Alaska, near Fairbanks
Apr. 09
#1, #2, #3, #4

We are rapidly approaching 24 hours of daylight here in Alaska. Today we had 14 hours and 35 minutes of sun above the horizon. As you can see from the photos we still had a little sunset at 12:15 AM Alaska Daylight Time (10:15PM local time yesterday). Also I just noticed that I caught a shooting star in photo Aurora 2. Using my Olympus C3040, ISO 400, 16 seconds, f1.8. Chuck

Troy Hammond,
Millersburg, Michigan, 65 miles south of Sault Ste. Marie Ontario, Canada
Apr. 09
#1

Upon learning the news of a weak CME impact with Earth, I looked to the North and saw a faint glow low on the horizon. This is a 30 second exposure with a Minotla Dimage Z1- - F2.8 ASA 400. Enjoy !!!!

Travis Favretto,
North of Sault Ste. Marie, ON
Apr. 09
#1

The clouds moved in just as the auroras started to brighten. Canon PowerShot A60, ISO 400, f2.8, 15 sec.

Hans Sivenius,
Jämsä, Finland
Apr. 03
#1, #2, #3, #4, more

Canon PowerShot A70, ISO 100, 15s

Antti Kuosmanen,
Espoo, Finland
Apr. 03
#1, #2, more

I had observed the auroras for about two hours when at around 22 UT they brightened. The bands snaked from west to east with fast movement. Photo details: Canon G3, 400 ASA, 6 & 3.2s exposure.

Anne-Mari Perkiö,
Bjurböle, Porvoo, Finland
Apr. 03
#1

Canon Power Shot S500,asa 400,4 s

Mats Mattsson,
South of the city of Stockholm Sweden
Apr. 03
#1, more

Auroras, Venus and the Pleiades. Photo details. Olympus 5050Z digital camera. Settings 400 ASA 16 seconds exposure.

Tuomas Saarinen,
Kangasala, Finland
Apr. 03
#1, #2

I went out to photograph Venus and the Pleiades and to my surprise I saw also something else - fairly bright auroras. The moon was almost full but the auroras were very easy to see, even some green color could be seen. Photo details: Canon Powershot G3, 100ISO setting, 10s exposure.

Olli Wilkman,
Near the town of Porvoo, Finland
Apr. 03
#1, #2, more

These auroras were stunning even with an almost full moon shining. Camera: Sony DSC-V1, 15s exposure

 

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