Midnight solar flare

Around this time of year, we have the midnight sun and one very long day! The midnight sun is nicely viewed from KAIRA and it is always calm and peaceful. Of course that's not always the case at the sun itself.

A few weeks back we caught a solar flare very close to the local solar midnight. Due to the equation of time, the application of daylight-savings/summer time in Europe, and our location, the minimum elevation of the Sun is not exactly at clock midnight.

However, very close to the point of minimum elevation (and the Sun crossing the northen meridian), KAIRA caught this solar flare.

Midnight solar flare! (Image: D. McKay-Bukowski)

Given that the elevation of the sun was quite low (approx. +2 degrees), this must have been a bright flare!

Our northern summer solstice occurs at 10:51 UTC on 21 June 2014.

Midnight sun

Today we just have a nice photograph of the midnight sun taken from KAIRA.

Midnight sun seen from KAIRA (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

Midnight sunshine

Following on from yesterday's summer solstice post, we need to point out that the midnight sun is visible for a considerable period around this time of the year. In fact, there was midnight sun at the time of the official opening of the KAIRA site.

One of the distinguished guests for the official opening of KAIRA was René Vermeulen, the director of the entire International LOFAR Telescope. Around midnight on the evening after the event, we took René out to the nature reserve at Pikku Malla. From there, it is possible not only to see the KAIRA site, but also to see the mightnight sun, shining over the fells and dales leading from Finland to Norway.

The midnight sun, seen over Siilasjärvi (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

The ILT director... in the midnight sunshine and midsummer snow bank (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

After this brief excursion, we returned to the KAIRA after-party.

Summer solstice

Well, the moment of solstice is upon us. Happy midsummer, everyone. And have a nice weekend too!

Sunshine at "night" over the KAIRA site. (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

Sun and sky over Pikku Malla

Just a nice photograph to end the week. This one is a lovely skyscape over Pikku Malla. In the foreground are the icy waters of Kilpisjärvi lake (this photo was taken at the beginning of June).

Skyscape over Pikku Malla (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

Have a nice weekend, everyone!

KAIRA sunset

For our Friday photograph, we have one taken just before midnight on 1st August 2011. The sun would set soon after the photograph was taken, but for a few brief moments the KAIRA antennas looked stunning in the golden evening sunshine.

Click on the image to see the full-size version. The mountains in the background are Saana (left) and Pikku Malla (right).

Have a nice weekend!

Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski

The first sunset

The season of Midnight Suns starts in Kilpisjärvi on about the 20^th May and lasts until the 23^rd July. Although the sun technically will set today, it only just dips below the horizon and the land remains in a strong twilight. In fact, it will be quite a while before we get some serious darkness.

Mid-summer

When viewed from the earth, the sun appears to not only move from east to west each day (due to the earth's rotation about its axis), but it also appears to move against the background stars (due to the earth's motion about the sun). The times when the sun reaches its highest and lowest point with respect to the stars (specifically the maximum and minimum points of declination) are the solstices. At the moment of solstice, the sun stops moving north (or south) and starts heading back the other way.


This year, the summer solstice occurred at 17:16 UTC on the 21-June-2011. This post has been made at the exact moment.

The weekend following the solstice is the mid-summer break, which is widely celebrated throughout Fenno-Scandinavia. The KAIRA construction project will take a few day's break during this time (although we'll continue to post web log articles... if nothing but to try to catch up on the back log!).


PS: The photograph is genuinely the view across Siilasjärvi at midnight on 18^th/19^th June 2011. For the solstice itself (well, with 5 minutes to go as I type this), it was 5 degrees celsius... and raining hard.

Midnight sun

This photograph was taken a few minutes past midnight. Actually the sun was a lot higher in the sky than appears here. However, I took the photograph from the base of the HBA mound, looking back up at the 18t digger.

At this time of day, the scenery is very picturesque. Although the higher parts of the day have been somewhat warm lately, by this stage it was getting cool again, dropping down to a pleasant 5 or so degrees.

Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski

Solar eclipse at midnight

Today, at approximately 00:30 local time, there was a partial Solar eclipse that was observable at high latitudes. Here are some pictures taken from Sodankylä. They are composed of two pictures: a fast exposure time picture and a normal exposure picture. The fast exposure picture has been subtracted from the normal exposure picture to simultaneously show the shape of the Sun (albeit in black) and the surrounding sky in full color. In the second picture the eclipse can also be seen in the lens flare too.

On the EISCAT_3D blog there are Thomas Ulich's photos of the eclipse.

The last sunset

The season of Midnight Suns starts in Kilpisjärvi on about the 20^th May and lasts until the 23^rd July. We've now had our last 'horizon' sunset for quite a while!

However, there are a number of prominent mountains about and there sun will continue to disappear for a few hours here and there. However with it always above the horizon the sky will not dim again until the autumn.