Omega Holidays Northern Lights Flight
Birmingham International Airport (BHX), December 21st 2006
Flight Report
This was the last flight of the 2006 Northern Lights Flight series. During the
week before Christmas '06, dense fog threatened many of the airports
from which Omega were intending to operate their popular Northern Light Flights.
However, despite many flight cancellations across the country, Northern Lights chasers
weren't to be deterred and all of the flights took off as planned.
Thick fog was present for the entire day at Birmingham.
The presentation on this occasion was given by myself (Pete Lawrence) and Ian Sharp,
both West Sussex astronomers. Lasting for an hour, the presentation was divided into
two parts. The first covered the logistics of the flight itself and some basic
navigational guides to help passengers identify the main constellation shapes
from the plane windows. The second part of the presentation concentrated on the
aurora; what it is, where it comes from and what the passengers could expect to
see that night. The presentation itself was held at the Manor House Hotel in Meriden.
Following the presentation, a relaxed drive to Birmingham International Airport
was followed by a rapid check-in (everyone had passed through by the time Ian and myself arrived)
and the usual security check. The flight took off and landed at the predicted times.
The landing was made in thick fog under computer control (CAT 3).
Auroral Activity
The sunspot count remained at zero for this flight. Checking the activity levels
just prior to the presentation, the solar wind that had caused last nights bright
display was still in force so the omens were relatively good.
Forty minutes into the flight, the aircraft cabin was plunged into darkness and
everyone was allowed time to dark adapt. As we flew north, a faint glow in the
north became visible showing a strong lower edge; typically indicative of the
aurora. As was the case for the flight on the 20th December from Bristol, throughout
the flight we were treated to a reasonably bright display showing
muted green colouration. Some nice structure was seen on this flight with the whole
of the northern horizon lit up. The structure was seen to change appearance quite
rapidly as the flight progressed. A great end of season display despite the
lack of sunspots on the sun's disk.
Photographic Results
Photographing the lights from a plane isn't the easiest task in the world. The lights
normally require an extended exposure of several seconds to record properly. During
this time the plane or the photographer is prone to move. To keep the exposure
times as short as possible, the camera is set to a high sensitivity (ISO) setting
which inevitably introduces noise (the grainy appearance of the images).
Here are some selected images from the night of the 21st. Many of these shots
were taken with a wide angle (16mm) lens in an attempt to shorten the exposure
times required and to capture more of the display in one go. As usual, these images
do not do the visually observed view justice! There was quite a lot of plane movement
on the night of the 21st which has reduced the number of useful shots that were taken.
Additional Links
Omega Holidays plc
Space weather forecasts and related information
NLF Presenter Paul Money's website
NLF Presenter Ian Sharp's website
Auroral activity from the Univerity of Lancaster
Auroral oval plots
Auroral photographs taken from Selsey on the UK's south coast
When's the Sky at Night next on?
For information on what's visible in the night sky every month (and much more)...
Pete Lawrence