Photographs of Aurora Taken Near Fredericton, N.B. on 30 October 2003

These photographs were taken on the evening of 30 October 2003 at about 2000 AST (31 October, 0000 UTC) from Starlight Village (!) in Hanwell just outside Fredericton, N.B., Canada. As reported by the Space Environment Center in Boulder, Colorado, the aurora resulted from a coronal mass ejection from the Sun on 29 October at 2049 UTC which subsequently impacted Earth's magnetic field at 1620 UTC on 30 October and produced an extreme geomagnetic storm which lasted for many hours.

The photographs were taken with a Canon EOS Rebel S camera with a 35-105 mm 1:4.5-5.6 lens using Fujicolor S-400 color negative film. The first few photographs were taken using automatic exposure while the rest were taken with a 15 second exposure at f/5.6. The prints were scanned at 300 dpi using a Hewlett-Packard ScanJet 5370C.


1. The view is to the south. Mars is visible through the trees.


2a. The view is to the north-east. Capella, the constellation Perseus and the Pleiades are visible in the photograph.


2b. The previous photograph with Capella, Perseus and the Pleiades highlighted.


3. The view is to the north-east.


4. The view is to the north-east.


5. The view is to the east.


6. A view almost directly overhead.


7. View to the east.


8. View to the east (scanned from negative).


9. View to the south including Mars in the constellation Aquarius.

For information about auroras, including their cause, see
How does the aurora borealis (the Northern Lights) work?
Where do auroras come from?
Frequently asked questions about the aurora.

Richard & Marg Langley (lang@unb.ca)
15 November 2003