At this time of year the amount of Astronomical Twilight is increasing rapidly, and early on the 19th October it was present from 00:23 – 02:40 UTC. The first image below was taken at 00:54 UTC looking north-east. The aurora was covering a lot of sky this morning, but was faint to moderate in brightness and dispersed as patches and scattered clusters of rays. Everything was green to my naked eye, but on the photographs some purple tops to the rays can also be seen.
Just after 01:00 UTC the aurora moved slightly southwards and there were some nice bursts of tall rays as shown in Image 3 below. Image 3 and Image 4 are taken facing opposite directions at around 01:18 UTC, showing that there was aurora in all directions at this time and in various forms including bands, rays and more diffuse patches.
A new bust of activity began to form in the east at 01:33 (Image 6), building into some very tall slow-moving (almost static) rays with beautiful purple tops. I went home at 01:48 and the aurora was still showing.
Image 1. 00:54 UTC. Taken at: ISO = 1600, f/2.8 @ 14 mm, exposure = 18 sec. Looking north-east.
Image 2. 01:06 UTC. Taken at: ISO = 1600, f/2.8 @ 14 mm, exposure = 19 sec. Looking east.
Image 3. 01:17 UTC. Taken at: ISO = 1600, f/2.8 @ 14 mm, exposure = 20 sec. Looking north-east.
Image 4. 01:19 UTC. Taken at: ISO = 1600, f/2.8 @ 14 mm, exposure = 17 sec. Looking south-west, with strong light pollution from Reykjavik city.
Image 5. 01:27 UTC. Taken at: ISO = 1600, f/2.8 @ 14 mm, exposure = 22 sec. Looking east.
Image 6. 01:33 UTC. Taken at: ISO = 1600, f/2.8 @ 14 mm, exposure = 24 sec. Looking east.
Image 7. 01:42 UTC. Taken at: ISO = 1600, f/2.8 @ 14 mm, exposure = 31 sec. Looking north-east.
