Photo of the Week for July 6, 2018
Getting a shot of the northern lights is extremely challenging at the moment. For one thing, summer nights are very short. Secondly, solar activity is currently low, which means few auroral displays are triggered. But “challenging” isn’t the same as “impossible,” as this photo by John Andersen proves.
In spite of the unfavourable circumstances, he was able to capture the scene presented above in the early morning hours of June 18, 2018, from a location east of Crossfield, Alberta—a town with a latitude of 51 degrees north. Indeed, twilight’s persistent glow on this near-solstice “night” adds colour to the sky and makes the scene all the more attractive.
John used a Canon EOS 6D DSLR camera fitted with a Tamron 15-30mm f/2.8 zoom lens (set to 15mm) for this 8-second exposure at ISO 3200.
