May 2003
Aurora Gallery
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Summary: For the third month in a row, sky watchers have spotted auroras triggered by solar wind streams flowing from coronal holes on the Sun. Earth's magnetic field was buffeted by gusts off-and-on all month long. Northern Lights appeared as far south as the Dakotas and Michigan in the United States. See also the April 2003 aurora gallery.

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Unless otherwise stated, all images are copyrighted by the photographers.

  Photographer, Location Images Comments

Dominic Cantin, 80 km north of Québec city in the Laurentides wildlife reserve, Canada
May 28		 #1, more

D. Cantin: "This is the first time I saw and photographed auroras reflecting from a lake. It's a great feeling to observe these reflections. I'm hooked!!!" Photo details: 16mm @ f 2.8, 20 sec, Fuji Superia 800.

Chris Gray, Moosehorn Dist., Manitoba , Canada
May 28		 #1, #2

C. Gray: "This shot shows the International Space Station going overhead with a very faint showing of auroras. They must have had a wonderful view." Photo details: Nikon D100, 28mm, f2.8, 20 sec

Stephane Levesque, Luceville, Quebec Canada
May 22		 #1, #2, #3

none

Jean Chiasson, St-Michel-de-Bellechasse, Canada
May 21		 #1, #2, #3, #4

Photo details: 16mm @ f/2., 25 sec., FUJI X-TRA 800 film.

Philippe Moussette, Cap-Rouge, Québec, Canada
May 21		 #1, more

The full-sized image shows not only a meteor and auroras, but also the city lights of Cap-Rouge.

Brian Whittaker, inside an airplane flying 33,000 feet above Canada
May 18		 #1

Brian Whittaker: "On an evening of numerous aurora, here is a poor photo (with internal reflections) of an incredibly vivid curtain that shown brilliantly for about 4 minute. The horizon is illuminated from the perpetual artic twilight of the far north in Canada."

Tom Hamann, McMurdo Station, Antarctica
May 11		 #1, #2 T. Hamann: "We don't see good auroras at McMurdo Station very often," says Hamann. Auroras circle Earth's magnetic poles like a donut, bright around the rim and dark in the middle. "Because we're fairly close to the south magnetic pole, we're usually inside the donut where auroras are dim. Faint auroras are hard to see here in 'town' because there is so much light pollution." The orange color of the foreground, he says, is due to 'city lights' reflecting from some fog and low-lying clouds.

Adam Zier-Vogel, Maxwell lake, Hinton, Alberta, Canada
May 10		 #1, #2, #3, #4 "The reflection was perfect other than the occasional ripples created by an angry beaver slapping it's tail about 15 feet from where I was shooting," says Adam. "The photos taken over the lake were facing south which demonstrates how widespread the display was. Green and purple were readily visible at times. Unfortunately, since this was shot in town, our sky (and the photos) were polluted with light."

Lance Taylor, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
May 9-10		 #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8 "It was a fantastic view," says Lance Taylor. "The storm started about 10:00 PM on May 9th and went well into the wee hours of the morning on May 10th. It was the kind of display that covered the horizon quite literally from East to West and North to South: huge fast sweeping curtains and very thin but well defined filaments at the zenith. It was very tough to decide where to put the camera in the sky."

Benjamin Bray, Grand Forks, North Dakota, USA
May 7		 #1, #2, #3, #4 B. Bray: "The best thing was the wave-like pulsations that moved directly overhead from the northern horizon. A picture just can’t capture that kind of activity!" Photo details: Canon AE-1, 50mm lens at f1.8, 15-30 second exposures on ASA 800 Fuji X-TRA.

Daryl Pederson, Bird Point, Alaska, USA
May 7		 #1, #2, #3 "With only a short window of darkness, the lights were briefly active throughout much of the sky," says Pederson.

Brian Ruddy, Isle Royale National Park, Michigan, USA
May 1		 #1, #2, #3, #4 Photo details: Sony DSC-F707 digital camera, F 2.8, wide angle lens with exposure times ranging from 15 to 30 seconds.

Garth Arsenault, Prince Edward Island, Canada
May 1		 #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6 G. Arsenault: "The picture with the lobster traps was fitting as this was the opening day of the lobster fishery on PEI. Those were old discarded traps in the foreground at North Rustico Harbour. Pics taken with my Canon AV-1 using Fuji 400 ASA film, exposure 15-30 seconds." [more]

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