August 2003
Aurora Gallery
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Summary: Most of the auroras pictured below were triggered by solar wind streams flowing from coronal holes. An exception is the widespread display of August 18th, which began when the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) near Earth turned sharply south (-30 nT) and remained south for many hours. South-pointing IMFs encourage geomagnetic activity. In this case a severe (G4-class) storm developed. See also the July 2003 aurora gallery.

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


  Photographer, Location Images Comments

Mason Coberly, Monroe, Washington, USA
Aug. 18
#1, #2, #3, #4

M. Coberly: "It was an unexpected storm. Way cool." Photo details: Canon G3, approx f3, 2-6 sec, 400 ISO.

Andre Clay, near Fairbanks, Alaska, USA
Aug. 18
#1, #2, #3

The green auroras are backlit by twilight skies in these pictures from Alaskan photographer Andre Clay. Photo details: Canon 10D, Tamron 19-35, 10-15S, ISO 400, 3.5

Dennis Mammana, Mt. Laguna, 50 miles east of San Diego, California, USA
Aug. 18
#1, more

D. Mammana: "Polaris lies at the center of the field, and the red auroral display appears to reach up about 10 or so degrees from the horizon. The landscape is lit by the waning gibbous moon." Photo details: Canon 10-D; 14mm, f/2.8 L lens; ISO 400; 2-minute exposure; 12:43 a.m.

Chris Kuk, Grand Forks, North Dakota, USA
Aug. 18
#1, #2, #3

"I saw some awesome streaming lights straight overhead," says Chris. "They showed up very well despite the bright moon and city lights of Grand Forks."

Warren Justice, Rainbow Beach on Dauphin Lake, Manitoba, Canada
Aug. 9
#1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7

Photo details: 28mm f1.9 lens Exp. f2 @ 8-12 sec. on Fuji Superia 800. See also pictures by Warren's 14-year old son, Jarius, below.

Erik I. Bech, Yellowknife, Northwest Terrotories, Canada
Aug. 12
#1, #2

Photo details: Olympus C3030Z, F/2.8, 16 sec., ISO-100.

Jairus Justice, Rainbow Beach on Dauphin Lake, Manitoba, Canada
Aug. 9
#1, #2, #3, #4

J. Justice: "My dad (Warren) and I observed two substorms through the night. One at 04:35 UTC and a second at 07:45 UTC. It was a very nice, warm summer night to view aurora."

Nori Sakamoto, Denali National Park, Alaska, USA
Aug. 6
#1, more

N. Sakamoto: "Although there is not much darkness here in Alaska yet, another aurora season has begun." Photo details: Camera: Nikon D100; Lens: 20mm f/2.8; ISO: 400; Exposure: 6 seconds at f/2.8

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