Bit late, but I've not seen in any of the NGs I frequent pictures of the spectacular aurora on that night ...
<www.macfh.co.uk/Temp/PXL_20260119_205131819.NIGHT.jpg> <www.macfh.co.uk/Temp/PXL_20260119_205311469.NIGHT.jpg> <www.macfh.co.uk/Temp/PXL_20260119_210113254.NIGHT.jpg>
Java Jive <java@evij.com.invalid> wrote:
Bit late, but I've not seen in any of the NGs I frequent pictures of the
spectacular aurora on that night ...
<www.macfh.co.uk/Temp/PXL_20260119_205131819.NIGHT.jpg>
<www.macfh.co.uk/Temp/PXL_20260119_205311469.NIGHT.jpg>
<www.macfh.co.uk/Temp/PXL_20260119_210113254.NIGHT.jpg>
Some working links might helprCa
On 2026-02-14 12:08, Spike wrote:
Java Jive <java@evij.com.invalid> wrote:
Bit late, but I've not seen in any of the NGs I frequent pictures of the >>> spectacular aurora on that night ...
<www.macfh.co.uk/Temp/PXL_20260119_205131819.NIGHT.jpg>
<www.macfh.co.uk/Temp/PXL_20260119_205311469.NIGHT.jpg>
<www.macfh.co.uk/Temp/PXL_20260119_210113254.NIGHT.jpg>
Some working links might helprCa
They work for me in TB/FF.
Bit late, but I've not seen in any of the NGs I frequent pictures of the spectacular aurora on that night ...
<www.macfh.co.uk/Temp/PXL_20260119_205131819.NIGHT.jpg> <www.macfh.co.uk/Temp/PXL_20260119_205311469.NIGHT.jpg> <www.macfh.co.uk/Temp/PXL_20260119_210113254.NIGHT.jpg>
Bit late, but I've not seen in any of the NGs I frequent pictures of the spectacular aurora on that night ...
<www.macfh.co.uk/Temp/PXL_20260119_205131819.NIGHT.jpg> <www.macfh.co.uk/Temp/PXL_20260119_205311469.NIGHT.jpg> <www.macfh.co.uk/Temp/PXL_20260119_210113254.NIGHT.jpg>
Java Jive wrote:
Bit late, but I've not seen in any of the NGs I frequent pictures of
the spectacular aurora on that night ...
<www.macfh.co.uk/Temp/PXL_20260119_205131819.NIGHT.jpg>
<www.macfh.co.uk/Temp/PXL_20260119_205311469.NIGHT.jpg>
<www.macfh.co.uk/Temp/PXL_20260119_210113254.NIGHT.jpg>
How do they look to the eye vs the camera?
On 14/02/2026 12:26, Java Jive wrote:
On 2026-02-14 12:08, Spike wrote:
Java Jive <java@evij.com.invalid> wrote:
Bit late, but I've not seen in any of the NGs I frequent pictures of
the
spectacular aurora on that night ...
<www.macfh.co.uk/Temp/PXL_20260119_205131819.NIGHT.jpg>
<www.macfh.co.uk/Temp/PXL_20260119_205311469.NIGHT.jpg>
<www.macfh.co.uk/Temp/PXL_20260119_210113254.NIGHT.jpg>
Some working links might helprCa
They work for me in TB/FF.
+1
Great photos.
Even when the aurora makes it down south, we always seem to have cloud! :-(
I've only seen an aurora once in my life, and that was a couple of years ago, and even long exposures of a few minutes on a tripod didn't give
such intense colours as the ones that JJ has posted.
The aurora must have been very bright to get such vivid bright colours
with exposures as short as 1/4 second at f2, even though the image info claims that you camera was using ISO 14046 Efye I think my exposures were about 5 mins at f4 at ISO 3200 (the fastest that my camera will do).
On 14/02/2026 12:43, Jeff Layman wrote:
On 14/02/2026 12:26, Java Jive wrote:
On 2026-02-14 12:08, Spike wrote:
Java Jive <java@evij.com.invalid> wrote:
Bit late, but I've not seen in any of the NGs I frequent pictures of >>>>> the
spectacular aurora on that night ...
<www.macfh.co.uk/Temp/PXL_20260119_205131819.NIGHT.jpg>
<www.macfh.co.uk/Temp/PXL_20260119_205311469.NIGHT.jpg>
<www.macfh.co.uk/Temp/PXL_20260119_210113254.NIGHT.jpg>
Some working links might helprCa
They work for me in TB/FF.
+1
And for me. If I copy-and-paste the URLs (*), they also open in Opera, Google Chrome and MS Edge.
(*) My default browser is set to FF, so that's what opens when I click
on one of the links.
NY <me@privacy.net> wrote:
On 14/02/2026 12:43, Jeff Layman wrote:
On 14/02/2026 12:26, Java Jive wrote:
On 2026-02-14 12:08, Spike wrote:
Java Jive <java@evij.com.invalid> wrote:
Bit late, but I've not seen in any of the NGs I frequent pictures of >>>>>> the
spectacular aurora on that night ...
<www.macfh.co.uk/Temp/PXL_20260119_205131819.NIGHT.jpg>
<www.macfh.co.uk/Temp/PXL_20260119_205311469.NIGHT.jpg>
<www.macfh.co.uk/Temp/PXL_20260119_210113254.NIGHT.jpg>
Some working links might helprCa
They work for me in TB/FF.
+1
And for me. If I copy-and-paste the URLs (*), they also open in Opera,
Google Chrome and MS Edge.
(*) My default browser is set to FF, so that's what opens when I click
on one of the links.
Sorry, chaps, but a URL starts with the scheme, such as https:
while
something beginning with www. is a hostname, commonly referred to as a www subdomain or a www web address.
A link would be a URL, but a hostname
isnrCOt.
I don't believe the exposure was as short as 1/4s.-a The phone used was
my Pixel 8a, and when photographing these things with it, the usual
exposure is from 1 to 3s, and I have to brace it against something to
keep it steady enough to get an unblurred image.
Which, with modern browsers, is enough, because they choose the
protocol, usually by default as 'https' but that may be configurable by
the user somewhere amongst the more obscure settings. Any which way, as you've seen, everyone else can load the images perfectly well.
Jeff Layman wrote:
I see that Firefox omits the https:// in the address bar.
If you want them back, toggle "browser.urlbar.trimURLs" in about:config
Java Jive wrote:
I don't believe the exposure was as short as 1/4s.-a The phone used was
my Pixel 8a, and when photographing these things with it, the usual
exposure is from 1 to 3s, and I have to brace it against something to
keep it steady enough to get an unblurred image.
Did you try "night sight" mode?
On 2026-02-14 13:09, Andy Burns wrote:
Java Jive wrote:
Bit late, but I've not seen in any of the NGs I frequent pictures
of the spectacular aurora on that night ...
<www.macfh.co.uk/Temp/PXL_20260119_205131819.NIGHT.jpg>
<www.macfh.co.uk/Temp/PXL_20260119_205311469.NIGHT.jpg>
<www.macfh.co.uk/Temp/PXL_20260119_210113254.NIGHT.jpg>
How do they look to the eye vs the camera?
One of the few occasions when the eye could see pretty much as well
as the camera, easily and certainly the best I've ever seen
personally, as opposed to other peoples' photos, and I can't remember
many of those that were as good. Although normally I have the
University Of Lancaster app running on my phone, on this occasion I'd disabled its notifications for fear of potentially disturbing my
cousin, with whom I was staying, in the middle of the night, so I
wasn't aware of the aurora until his son rang us about it, because
he'd seen it from the back of his house. By contrast, what normally
happens is that the phone notifies me, and I take it out to the back
window of my house to see if there is sufficient clear sky to see
anything, which often of course there isn't, but even when there is,
usually I can only see a vague smear in the sky, which the phone's
photos show to be green.
Sometimes things just work out that you are in the right place at
the right time.
Previously I did see them once in the Mid 1980rCOs while visiting Mull.
Both occasions the displays were quite colourful but we had not had our expectations raised like can happen now to some by seeing someones photo image filling a spot on the local TV weather forecast and getting disappointed that seeing with the naked eye is not usually as intense .
Davey <davey@example.invalid> wrote:
Many, many years ago, (1970s), I travelled up to the north coast, and asSometimes things just work out that you are in the right place atYep. We decided to visit the wiferCOs relatives who live in Scotland in February/ March 2013
the right time.
but also decided to make a decent break of it by taking a drive North
roughly on what has now become the ( and some say ruined by Motor
homers and publicity ) North Coast 500.
We used B+BrCOs just hoping we found one before darkness fell and
stopped one night in a small settlement called Leirinmore. By the
time we settled into the room and freshened up and then walked to the
pub next door for food it had got dark, because of the time of the
year menu wasnrCOt elaborate and was mainly quick to prepare and serve
fare so I think we settled on a pie and and chips or similar
offering. Thought after awhile it was taking a bit of time but as we
having a relaxing drink we werenrCOt bothered but the place had gone
eerily quiet with just us in it, all of sudden the owner who was
preparing the food dashed in from outside and said rCLSorry , forgot
you were here ,werCOve all gone outside to watch the Northern Lights
its one of the best displays we have seen for years. I believe they
were seen quite a long way South that night possibly the 26 of
February but we were lucky enough to be by chance right in the North
of Scotland. Previously I did see them once in the Mid 1980rCOs while visiting Mull. Both occasions the displays were quite colourful but
we had not had our expectations raised like can happen now to some
by seeing someones photo image filling a spot on the local TV
weather forecast and getting disappointed that seeing with the naked
eye is not usually as intense .
GH
Many, many years ago, (1970s), I travelled up to the north coast, and as
I drove westwards, there were some inlets where the road took a detour inland. Some years later, I drove the same route, and one particular
inlet detour had been bypassed by a bridge. Being one of those people
who always likes to take The Old Road, I started to follow the original
road around the inlet. But I met a herd of Highland Cattle, who had
taken control of the road. There was no way that I was going to be
allowed to go that way, they were much bigger than my Herald 13/60.
Over on the west coast, there used to be legendary queues for the Strome Ferry. It too was bypassed, by a tunnel, which had a very impressive
concrete coat of arms at the entrance. It so happened that I stopped
at a B&B which was run by the engineer from Balfour Beatty who had built
the tunnel. I asked him how they had made the coat of arms, and he told
me that a specialist had come to stay for a night, he had brought some
large blocks of expanded polystyrene with him, and he proceeded to carve
out the reverse image of the coat of arms, using an electric carving
knife, on the kitchen table. This was then used to mould the concrete.
He said they were finding specks of the stuff in the kitchen for weeks afterwards.
On 21/02/2026 22:16, Davey wrote:
Many, many years ago, (1970s), I travelled up to the north coast,
and as I drove westwards, there were some inlets where the road
took a detour inland. Some years later, I drove the same route, and
one particular inlet detour had been bypassed by a bridge. Being
one of those people who always likes to take The Old Road, I
started to follow the original road around the inlet. But I met a
herd of Highland Cattle, who had taken control of the road. There
was no way that I was going to be allowed to go that way, they were
much bigger than my Herald 13/60. Over on the west coast, there
used to be legendary queues for the Strome Ferry. It too was
bypassed, by a tunnel, which had a very impressive concrete coat of
arms at the entrance. It so happened that I stopped at a B&B which
was run by the engineer from Balfour Beatty who had built the
tunnel. I asked him how they had made the coat of arms, and he told
me that a specialist had come to stay for a night, he had brought
some large blocks of expanded polystyrene with him, and he
proceeded to carve out the reverse image of the coat of arms, using
an electric carving knife, on the kitchen table. This was then used
to mould the concrete. He said they were finding specks of the
stuff in the kitchen for weeks afterwards.
What tunnel is that?
There is the avalanche shelter on that route but it is hardly a
tunnel. There are proposals for a long term solution with a tunnel
but I do not think it has been built?
On 21/02/2026 22:16, Davey wrote:
Many, many years ago, (1970s), I travelled up to the north coast, and as
I drove westwards, there were some inlets where the road took a detour
inland. Some years later, I drove the same route, and one particular
inlet detour had been bypassed by a bridge. Being one of those people
who always likes to take The Old Road, I started to follow the original
road around the inlet. But I met a herd of Highland Cattle, who had
taken control of the road. There was no way that I was going to be
allowed to go that way, they were much bigger than my Herald 13/60.
Over on the west coast, there used to be legendary queues for the Strome
Ferry. It too was bypassed, by a tunnel, which had a very impressive
concrete coat of arms at the entrance. It so happened that I stopped
at a B&B which was run by the engineer from Balfour Beatty who had built
the tunnel. I asked him how they had made the coat of arms, and he told
me that a specialist had come to stay for a night, he had brought some
large blocks of expanded polystyrene with him, and he proceeded to carve
out the reverse image of the coat of arms, using an electric carving
knife, on the kitchen table. This was then used to mould the concrete.
He said they were finding specks of the stuff in the kitchen for weeks
afterwards.
What tunnel is that?
There is the avalanche shelter on that route but it is hardly a tunnel. There are proposals for a long term solution with a tunnel but I do not think it has been built?
That road is a b*r to drive, because it's largely single track with
passing places, and even where it's dual-track it has many bends.-a It's also a popular tourist route and some tourists tend not to be very good
at pulling in to passing places to let any traffic behind them pass. You really don't want to get stuck behind something like a caravan just
there!-a The road up Loch Lomond side used to be very much like that
before the new fast road was built.-a You can only walk that old road
now.-a Here's a late 1950s photo taken from the shore alongside it by my mother; when scanning all the family photos, it took me some time to
work out where it was.-a According to an old family friend (I was too
young to remember anything of this), the rear axle of the Ford Zephyr we were in broke, and we camped for three days at Tarbet on the shore of
Loch Lomond while a new one was shipped up to the local garage and they
did the repair:
On 22/02/2026 14:47, Java Jive wrote:
That road is a b*r to drive, because it's largely single track with
passing places, and even where it's dual-track it has many bends.
It's also a popular tourist route and some tourists tend not to be
very good at pulling in to passing places to let any traffic behind
them pass. You really don't want to get stuck behind something like a
caravan just there!-a The road up Loch Lomond side used to be very much
like that before the new fast road was built.-a You can only walk that
old road now.
The A82 up Loch Lomondside still has lots of narrow sections.-a Whenever someone unfamiliar with the area asks about it, I always advise them to treat it like a single track road.-a There can be a large HGV or tour bus just around any bend.-a And of course many drivers (not just tourists)
will stop without leaving any gaps, leaving no room for anyone to
manoeuvre and get things moving.-a And for days after any heavy rain,
there will be a lot of surface water that cannot drain away.
On Sun, 22 Feb 2026 14:47:42 +0000
Java Jive <java@evij.com.invalid> wrote:
<https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@57.3820182,-5.4734996,3a,54.6y,51.17h,98.66t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1ss4FRClbCKVRiHCirp3Voww!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D-8.657600136125865%26panoid%3Ds4FRClbCKVRiHCirp3Voww%26yaw%3D51.16643292071945!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDIxOC4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D>
..which conveniently describes it as Strathcarron Tunnel. Which is
where we came in.
On 2026-02-22 18:09, Davey wrote:
On Sun, 22 Feb 2026 14:47:42 +0000
Java Jive <java@evij.com.invalid> wrote:
<https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@57.3820182,-5.4734996,3a,54.6y,51.17h,98.66t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1ss4FRClbCKVRiHCirp3Voww!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D-8.657600136125865%26panoid%3Ds4FRClbCKVRiHCirp3Voww%26yaw%3D51.16643292071945!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDIxOC4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D>
..which conveniently describes it as Strathcarron Tunnel. Which is
where we came in.
Except that visibly it is not a true tunnel, because it doesn't go
through any part of the mountain, which is where we came in.
Yes, the new section of the A82 only goes as far as Tarbet, north of
there it's pretty much like it used to be in the 1950s & 1960s.
On 22/02/2026 18:02, Java Jive wrote:
Yes, the new section of the A82 only goes as far as Tarbet, north of
there it's pretty much like it used to be in the 1950s & 1960s.
Some of the narrowest and with most bends, are South of Tarbet.
On 2026-02-24 08:08, JMB99 wrote:
On 22/02/2026 18:02, Java Jive wrote:
Yes, the new section of the A82 only goes as far as Tarbet, north of
there it's pretty much like it used to be in the 1950s & 1960s.
Some of the narrowest and with most bends, are South of Tarbet.
I think you may be confused.-a I've driven that road several times within the last five years, and the section between Alexandria and Tarbet is
almost entirely a new route, and, where it isn't, the road has been
widened and straightened.-a You can 'drive' north from here ...
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Loch+Lomond/@55.9996843,-4.5980961,3a,75y,328.44h,88.67t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sFSc8l5oS8JCAFYTVQ_4i3Q!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D1.3313994264715063%26panoid%3DFSc8l5oS8JCAFYTVQ_4i3Q%26yaw%3D328.43565443502575!7i16384!8i8192!4m6!3m5!1s0x4888ffd3731c51f3:0xc4f1e758e337fb38!8m2!3d56.1113678!4d-4.6288602!16zL20vMDFuY2Nj?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDIxOC4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D
... or you can scroll north from here comparing the two maps ...
On 2026-02-24 13:20, Java Jive wrote:
On 2026-02-24 08:08, JMB99 wrote:
On 22/02/2026 18:02, Java Jive wrote:
Yes, the new section of the A82 only goes as far as Tarbet, north
of there it's pretty much like it used to be in the 1950s &
1960s.
Some of the narrowest and with most bends, are South of Tarbet.
I think you may be confused.-a I've driven that road several times
within the last five years, and the section between Alexandria and
Tarbet is almost entirely a new route, and, where it isn't, the
road has been widened and straightened.-a You can 'drive' north from
here ...
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Loch+Lomond/@55.9996843,-4.5980961,3a,75y,328.44h,88.67t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sFSc8l5oS8JCAFYTVQ_4i3Q!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D1.3313994264715063%26panoid%3DFSc8l5oS8JCAFYTVQ_4i3Q%26yaw%3D328.43565443502575!7i16384!8i8192!4m6!3m5!1s0x4888ffd3731c51f3:0xc4f1e758e337fb38!8m2!3d56.1113678!4d-4.6288602!16zL20vMDFuY2Nj?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDIxOC4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D
... or you can scroll north from here comparing the two maps ...
Scrub that second link, there's no overlay map from just a little
further north (NLS were reliant on being able to find and digitise
surviving hardcopy maps - presumably they couldn't find one
covering that area). I've checked that this one is covers the whole
of that section:
<https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=14.4&lat=56.01503&lon=-4.62006&layers=256&b=OSLeisure&o=33>
I quote:
"I think this horse has been well and truly flogged to death now :-)"
I think you may be confused.-a I've driven that road several times within the last five years, and the section between Alexandria and Tarbet is
almost entirely a new route, and, where it isn't, the road has been
widened and straightened.-a You can 'drive' north from here ...
I quote:
"I think this horse has been well and truly flogged to death now :-)"
On 24/02/2026 13:20, Java Jive wrote:
I think you may be confused.-a I've driven that road several times
within the last five years, and the section between Alexandria and
Tarbet is almost entirely a new route, and, where it isn't, the road
has been widened and straightened.-a You can 'drive' north from here ...
Oooops, Sorry I meant North of Tarbet.
On 2026-02-24 16:27, JMB99 wrote:
On 24/02/2026 13:20, Java Jive wrote:
I think you may be confused.-a I've driven that road several times
within the last five years, and the section between Alexandria and
Tarbet is almost entirely a new route, and, where it isn't, the road
has been widened and straightened.-a You can 'drive' north from here ...
Oooops, Sorry I meant North of Tarbet.
Yes, as we both have written, that is still original windy road hugging
the loch shore, though now it's at least dual-track.
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