A big a part of Distinguished Professor Jessica Fridrich’s analysis at Binghamton University is about digital imaging. Alongside her curiosity in astronomy and images, she lately started researching, chasing and photographing the northern lights.
Fridrich had all the time liked artwork, which was handed down by generations of her household. Although she in the end pursued a profession in science and engineering, her father, who sparked her curiosity in astronomy and optics, helped create her lifelong fascination with mild.
“I must say that, until recently, I have always considered the northern lights to be a phenomenon that is only visible from polar regions,” mentioned Fridrich, a college member on the Thomas J. Watson College of Engineering and Applied Science’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. “Last year, I realized that I had been missing out on a lot of fun.”
As a photographer, Fridrich focuses on landscapes, however she additionally takes nighttime photographs referred to as astro-landscapes. She likes to {photograph} the Southwestern U.S., particularly the Colorado Plateau. Since 2012, Fridrich has gained a number of prizes for her pictures.
Fridrich started to dive deeper into the science behind the northern lights, studying how you can predict and find them precisely. Through trial and error, she has been capable of seize placing images of quite a few auroral shows.
The northern lights are a pure phenomenon that takes place inside the Earth’s ambiance. Triggered by plasma ejected by the solar, known as photo voltaic wind, it’s made up of electrons and protons. These are guided by Earth’s magnetic subject, and in polar areas, they ionize oxygen and nitrogen molecules, exuding a inexperienced and pink mild.
Earth’s magnetic pole is encircled by the auroral oval, and through sturdy geomagnetic storms, it dips down in the direction of the equator. This permits for the phenomenon to be seen in center latitude areas. According to Fridrich, Binghamton is situated at roughly 42 levels, and because of the magnetic pole tilting in the direction of the japanese US, the auroral shows could be seen on common each two weeks.
“Our sun’s activity is periodic with a period of 11 years. Aurora is more common when we are close to the solar maximum, which occurred last year,” Fridrich mentioned. “We still have a few years of elevated solar activity ahead of us,” Fridrich mentioned.
Recently, Fridrich was even capable of seize a phenomenon referred to as proton pancakes. Her images was featured on spaceweather.com. Proton pancakes are made by illuminating protons from Earth’s present ring, against the everyday illuminations of electrons, which create the northern lights.
Fridrich is enthusiastic about her images and the northern lights. She urges others to see them and was capable of reply some questions that will assist others seize them as effectively.
Are the lights seen in Binghamton, and when are you able to see them?
Binghamton sits at a latitude of roughly 42 levels, which isn’t precisely a polar area. However, the Earth’s magnetic pole just isn’t on the north pole – it “tilts” towards the japanese a part of the U.S., giving us an edge over locations with an identical latitude in, say, Europe or China.
During the years close to the photo voltaic most, primarily based by myself expertise, one can see aurora from Binghamton on common each two weeks. Sometimes, an aurora could also be seen from right here for a number of days in a row throughout excessive photo voltaic exercise. Winter is usually higher for viewing than summer time just because we now have longer nights. The finest time of yr to be looking out for aurora is close to the equinoxes, however brilliant auroral shows are doable any time of the yr, relying on the solar’s exercise.
Aurora is capricious and elusive in that it’s slightly exhausting to foretell what it’s going to appear like at a given location and time. It is a really dynamic and various phenomenon. Even throughout sturdy geomagnetic storms, the northern lights aren’t all the time seen from right here all through the complete night time, however solely briefly bursts known as “substorms.” Catching them requires persistence and data. The extra you already know about them and the extra affected person you’re, the extra doubtless you’re to see a kind of substorms. They can final only some minutes or maintain going for hours, relying on the power of the storm.
How will I do know {that a} substorm is about to occur?
When a big photo voltaic occasion happens and NASA’s or NOAA’s fashions predict a geomagnetic storm, it’s going to doubtless be on the information, so that you’re unlikely to overlook it. Such sturdy occasions are uncommon, although. We had two final yr – on May 10 and Oct. 10. Many folks noticed and photographed the northern lights on these days.
However, quite a few smaller occasions nonetheless produce very good substorms seen from right here that fly beneath the media’s radar. To be sure you catch the following storm, you are able to do one in all these three issues, relying on how a lot effort and time you’re prepared to speculate:
1. Sign up for notifications on spaceweather.com (there’s a free and a paid model). You’ll be notified when geomagnetic situations are favorable for auroras.
2. Visit the NOAA Aurora Forecast and refresh the web page repeatedly. This picture reveals a prediction (the lead time is within the higher proper nook) for the auroral oval. Don’t take the colours too actually, although. Auroras could be noticed from areas additional south than the oval signifies. Pay consideration to the hemispheric energy index (HPI). While it could actually’t precisely predict your visible expertise, it’s most likely the perfect basic indicator. Typically, auroras could be photographed from Binghamton when HPI is above 50-70. They turn out to be seen to the bare eye when HPI reaches round 100. Values above 100 normally produce spectacular shows. On May 10, 2024, HPI was 326, and on Oct. 10, it exceeded 350. Those had been actually distinctive storms. Nonetheless, I’ve seen lovely shows right here with HPI within the low 30s and far weaker ones when it was 130.
3. The finest option to enhance your probabilities of seeing the aurora is to dive deeper into the phenomenon. I like to recommend following spaceweatherlive.com. This web site supplies stay feeds of information from satellites monitoring photo voltaic exercise and photo voltaic wind close to Earth, together with real-time information from Earth’s magnetometers. These magnetometers monitor adjustments within the magnetic subject, and the one in Ottawa correlates strongly with auroral sightings right here. All information is displayed graphically and color-coded – inexperienced for weak parameters, yellow for reasonable, pink for sturdy and darkish pink to brown for very sturdy. Key parameters to look at are the photo voltaic wind velocity, its density and magnetic subject power and orientation (Bz). This information predicts what is going to attain Earth in 30-60 minutes, relying on the photo voltaic wind’s velocity, providing you with time to arrange and get into place. Aurora shows range primarily based on these parameters. The crucial quantity to observe is the Bz part of the magnetic subject; the extra damaging, the higher. Substorms are sometimes triggered by sudden adjustments in photo voltaic wind velocity, density or magnetic subject, however they will additionally happen beneath regular situations. Since predicting particular person substorms is tough, aurora looking is actually a ready recreation, and expertise makes a giant distinction.
Where are spots within the Binghamton space to see them?
Although you can not see a lot from campus due to mild air pollution, the perfect locations are north of Binghamton, the place you have got much less mild air pollution on the northern horizon. You need as darkish a sky as doable with minimal glow from distant cities on the northern horizon, freed from any obstruction, reminiscent of bushes or hills. There is one fashionable spot at a cemetery on East Maine Road the place folks go to look at comets. I name it the Standard Binghamton Comet Watching Site (SBCWS). It can get packed through the larger shows that get media consideration, although. I can’t emphasize this sufficient – it is advisable decrease mild air pollution and obstruction as a lot as you may, as a result of in any other case you don’t see something.
What else can I do to ensure I’ll see the northern lights?
Three issues are necessary to catch smaller-scale occasions: data, persistence and gear.
Besides figuring out that the geomagnetic exercise goes to be sturdy forward of time and discovering a darkish spot, it is advisable have reasonable expectations. Haze and smoke, particularly when illuminated by the Moon or mild air pollution, can stifle the refined glow of northern lights. Also, your digital camera or cellphone will see considerably greater than your eyes as a result of digital imaging gadgets can accumulate the sunshine over a number of seconds. Even whenever you desire to look at along with your eyes solely, I like to recommend that you just begin by taking take a look at photographs with a digital camera or cellphone, ideally mounted on a tripod. You will know what to search for along with your eyes. Often, I maintain taking take a look at photographs as soon as each minute or so, simply to see whether or not there may be growth within the auroral glow. Initially, when the aurora is in its constructing part, it seems like a greenish diffuse glow on the horizon that will get brighter with time and likewise turns into extra structured. Once you begin seeing motion and brighter spots inside the greens, it implies that a substorm may be imminent. While substorms can manifest solely as a dance of greens, we will usually see pink/magenta columns abruptly sprouting up, typically reaching fairly excessive into the sky. This is probably the most magical second that all the time offers me goosebumps. The sky abruptly brightens, and columns of sunshine shoot excessive into the sky. Visually, I see them as darkish pink, virtually brown, whereas the greens beneath seem emerald inexperienced to me. The colours are slightly subdued, so don’t anticipate saturated tones, however cameras and fashionable telephones will present all of the grandeur.
You must be affected person. We don’t choose after we will see the aurora – the aurora picks us. Be ready to spend hours ready; costume warmly, carry meals and water, and take into account going with mates to have firm. Make it an aurora celebration! Enjoy spending time beneath the starry sky. You will doubtless see different attention-grabbing issues, reminiscent of taking pictures stars. When the northern lights present up, you can be rewarded on your persistence, standing speechless beneath the celebs. I’ve seen dozens of shows, and it simply by no means will get outdated.
How to {photograph} them? What settings do folks use on their telephones to get them?
The best choice is to have a full-frame digital digital camera mounted on a tripod.
I exploit a Nikon Z7 set to white stability 4000K and expose for about six seconds at ISO 1600-4000 with an f2.8 lens. When the Moon is out or if there may be mild air pollution, use a decrease ISO. If the aurora strikes in a short time, bump up the ISO and shorten the publicity to 4 or two seconds to stop movement blur. Indeed, some shows can morph in a short time. Make positive your digital camera is concentrated correctly by switching to handbook focus and specializing in a brilliant star. Lenses with a big aperture (low f-stop) are the perfect. I largely use a 24-70 mm f2.8 lens vast open. The zoom is useful for getting the main points. For actually magnificent and huge shows, such because the one on October 10, 2024, you need a wide-angle lens. As vast as doable, as a result of the aurora may be throughout you, together with straight above. One factor to maintain with you is a lens cleansing fabric to wipe off dew that may accumulate in your lens.
I don’t shoot with a cellphone, however I assume that deciding on the night time mode is all it is advisable do. Phones are getting higher at imaging beneath low-light situations.
For the perfect outcomes, I additionally suggest that you just set your machine to retailer the pictures in RAW or at the least uncompressed format to get probably the most out of the pictures. You can then use picture modifying software program to “develop” your pictures to the ultimate kind. If you do not need to do that, simply shoot JPEGs. You will likely be high-quality.
Why do it’s important to use sure settings to see them? How do the settings in your cellphone assist to seize the lights? Are they seen round right here to the bare eye?
You will likely be capturing a low-light occasion, so the sensor must be extra delicate to mild (larger ISO setting) and the lens vast open to maximise the quantity of sunshine captured. If you used simply common settings for images through the day, the pictures would come out fully black at night time.
As talked about above, most auroral shows are finest considered by the digital camera no matter how sturdy the storm is. The photographs are extra colourful and include much more element than what our eyes can see. I like to look at with my eyes whereas urgent the digital camera shutter, maybe recomposing or zooming in, relying on which a part of the aurora is brighter or extra lively. You can use averted imaginative and prescient to see extra by not trying straight on the aurora, however slightly away from it. Astronomers use this trick to squeeze extra out of visible observations of faint objects.
If you favor watching along with your eyes, be sure you keep away from blinding your self by trying on the screens or flashlights. Keep your pupils vast open.
What are a few of your favourite pictures you have got taken?
My favorites are from Oct. 10 final yr. What a completely unimaginable night time that was. Words can’t describe the expertise. The aurora was so brilliant that my college students noticed it proper after sundown, when it was not darkish but, from the center of the Walmart car parking zone! This storm had all of it – a STEVE, SAR, proton aurora, every little thing. The photograph featured above was the show from that night time.
I additionally liked the present on June 1, 2025. It was brought on by a really quick coronal mass ejection that was not that dense. The shockwave from the CME hit us sooner than NOAA forecasted. I kind of counted on that primarily based on the discussions on spaceweatherlive.com. Since it was speculated to be cloudy in all of New York state, I drove to Lake Erie on the west finish of New York, which was one of many few locations within the northeastern U.S. the place there was no smoke from the Canadian wildfires and no clouds from the low-pressure system that lined the Northeast. The CME hit at 1:30 a.m., and by 2 a.m., the aurora was already up and dancing. I stood by my tripod on the lake till dawn, snapping one photograph after one other. I virtually collapsed from exhaustion as soon as the present was over because the adrenaline in my bloodstream diminished. This show was very colourful and really dynamic. I guess on NOAA getting it fallacious on that day, and it paid off massive.
Any last messages to our readers?
There is a joke that panorama photographers inform that equally applies to catching auroras: “What is the single most important thing about landscape photography? To get your butt out there!” You ain’t gonna see something out of your couch.
Having mentioned this, if you do not need to freeze exterior for hours however nonetheless need a real-time expertise, you may watch the aurora on one of many webcams. My favourite is the one at Millinocket Lake in northern Maine, aimed toward Mount Katahdin. It is a good proxy for what one might see from Binghamton. The lake is 3.5 levels additional north, to allow them to get slightly higher view of the present, however basically, I discover the view to be fairly much like what could be seen from right here. The URL would possibly change, so seek for Mount Katahdin aurora webcam on YouTube. The present hyperlink is here. A terrific webcam to look at can be positioned in Finland.
Other helpful hyperlinks:
Jill DeCancio is an intern for the Office of Media and Public Relations and a junior majoring in English with a minor in Spanish. She is all for pursuing a profession in journalism.