This night was very close to the full moon. Personally, I really like to have some moonlight to brighten up the foreground of aurora pictures. Interestingly, there was little indication of activity on the Leirvogur magnetometer this evening, so I was quite surprised to find a decent arc visible to the north when I looked outside at 21:55 UTC. Although the sky was cloudy and the moon almost full, the arc was very visible to the naked eye in a washed-out pale green colour (Image 1). Because the aurora didn’t seem particularly strong (and because I like to “expose to the right” when it is possible), I exposed for 23 sec and the resulting images look almost like daylight due to the moon. In fact the images below have been reduced slightly in exposure.
Not too much happened to this arc in the time that I viewed it (it clouded over by 23:10 and I went home). It was visible for the entire time, in much the same location. At 22:17 it had split into three separate bands, but all of the same appearance (uniform and shifting only slowly over time). At 22:37 there was a short period where some tall isolated rays appeared in the north-east.
Image 1. 22:06 UTC. Taken at: ISO = 1600, f/2.8 @ 14 mm, exposure = 23 sec. Looking north.
Image 2. 22:25 UTC. Taken at: ISO = 1600, f/2.8 @ 14 mm, exposure = 24 sec. Looking north.
Image 3. 22:37 UTC. Taken at: ISO = 1600, f/2.8 @ 14 mm, exposure = 15 sec. Looking north-east.
