Auroral Arc Near Solstice
Taken by Alan Dyer on June 24, 2026 @
near Gleichen, Alberta, Canada
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Camera Used: NIKON CORPORATION NIKON Z 8
Exposure Time: 13/1
Aperture: f/1.8
ISO: 800
Date Taken: 2026:06:25 12:52:57
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Details:
This is a panorama of an arc of Northern Lights on June 24, 2026 a few days after the summer solstice, so the sky is bright to the north with perpetual twilight. And the waxing gibbous Moon is lighting the scene from behind the camera. This aurora never got any brighter or more structured than this in the time I was looking. Indeed, even these subtle vertical rays here were gone in the next set of images I shot for another panorama a few minutes later.
The aurora was at about Kp4.5 this night, which from my latitude in western Canada is enough to produce at least a horizon show.
At left behind the "lone tree on the prairie" the sky is bright with what might be a distant display of noctilucent clouds. The other clouds are normal weather clouds, mostly high cirrus.
The bright star Capella, circumpolar from this latitude of 51º N, is low at centre. The stars of Perseus are at right.
The bright area in the grass below the vertical curtains of aurora at right is an "opposition effect" back reflection of the Moon 180º away from that spot behind the camera.
I shot this from the east-west township grid road to the south of home where there is a "lone tree hill."
Technical:
This is a panorama of originally 16 segments covering about 220º from due west to southeast, but here cropped down to a smaller portion looking north and northeast framing the arc of aurora. Each segment was 13 seconds at f/1.8 with the Viltrox 35mm LAB lens on the Nikon Z8 at ISO 800, with the camera in landscape orientation. Stitched in ACR. The original is 19,000 pixels wide.
Photographer's website:
https://www.amazingsky.com
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