On Monday, April 6 at 7:50 p.m. PT, Falcon 9 launched 25 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. This corresponds to 04:50 CEST on April 7 in Norway. The Starlink train passed over Norway later that evening at 22:11, and the image above shows the formation as seen from Ørsta.
A colorful meteor streaking the sky in the morning hours of April 08, 2026.
On 2 April 2026 between 20:16–20:22 UTC, I observed a STEVE event south of the auroral oval in Ørsta, Norway. The phenomenon began as a purple/magenta subauroral blob, which then elongated and developed into a well‑defined east–west STEVE structure. The emission kept a stable purple/magenta continuum throughout all phases, with no auroral curtains or oxygen‑line features. High‑resolution images with UTC timestamps document the full sequence from initial blob to dissipation. Solar wind conditions were already disturbed by earlier CMEs, creating good conditions for STEVE on 2 April. Details: Canon 650D, 8mm fisheye lens.
The auroras shone brightly enough to be visible in a sky dominated by the full Moon. Here are a few images from April 02 with timestamps in UTC. Details: Canon 650D, 8mm fisheye lens.
Nice auroral activity in between the clouds, wind and precipitation. A few images. Details: Canon 650D/RP, fisheye lenses. Various iso and exposure settings. Location: Ørsta, Norway.
During the CIR-impact on February 14-15, 2026, there was an instance of what looked like RAGDA to the south. A few images from local time 22:31 to 22:36 (or 21:31 to 21:36 UTC, if you wish). Following the RAGDA phenomenon a SAR-arc appeared, it lingered on, here photographed at local time 23:00 (UTC 22:00).
Details: Canon 650D, fisheye lens.
RAGDA
SAR-arc
Nice colorful auroral curtains over the valley on February 10, 2026. Here are a few images with timestamps in UTC. Details: Canon 650D, 8mm fisheye lens. Iso: 1600
On 23 January 2026, around 02:08 local time (01:08 UTC) to 02:41 (01:41 UTC) I observed horizontally aligned wave‑like structures in the green aurora, near
the north-eastern horizon.The visibility of the Dunes / Auroral Dunes, varied due to pillars and diffuse aurora present during the interval.
The reddish glow is caused by sunlight scattering in the rapidly expanding
exhaust plume at orbital altitude. At this moment, the rocket stage
was in Earth’s shadow while the plume remained sunlit, creating a high-altitude
optical display visible across much of Northern Europe.
A red spot over the valley (at about 19:45 local time), it was caused by a Falcon 9 rocket from SpaceX. Location: Ørsta, Norway. Details: Canon 650D, fisheye lens (8mm).
From about 17:04 UTC (18:04 local time) to 17:35 (18:35 local time) I photographed faint, diffuse green patches low on the southern horizon from Ørsta, Norway.
There were no other form of aurora present. They pulsed/appeared and disappeared continuously.
Initially there was a double banded structure, that later formed into a more elongated and diffuse structure. Most likely as a consequense
as the EMIC-driven precipitation diminished. The double-stucture phase lasted for about for about 7 minutes (17:04 to 17:11 UTC).
Please, find timestamp on images to show their development.
Details: Canon RP, 7.5mm fisheye-lens. Iso: 5000. Exposure: 2. seconds. Canon 650D, 8mm fisheye lens (three lowermost images).
This was the last pulsation of the IPA.
Color and Light On And Beyond The Earth 