Wednesday, January 29, 2014

A new day dawns in Östersund

Efter några dagar med dåligt väder saknar jag verkligen att få se solen, så jag gick igenom lite solbilder jag tog förra veckan. Bland annat fångade jag en sekvens då solen kom upp precis bakom Rådhuset här i Östersund. På toppen av solen ser ni en liten flamma i svagt grönt sken. Det är en så kallad solblixt, eller grön blixt, som jag pratat om tidigare. Jag minns att det var väldigt blåsigt denna morgon och ögonen fylldes konstant med tårar av det bitande vädret vilket gjorde det svårt att se hur solen var placerad och hur fokus låg. Här är en bild där allt föll på plats och nu är det lättare att titta på den utan ögonen tåras.

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After several days with cloudy weather I really miss the Sun so I went through some photos from last week where I captured the Sun while it was rising behind Rådhuset here in Östersund. At the top of the Sun you can see a small greenish light, that's called a solar flare, that I've mentioned before. At the time for taking this photo, it was very windy and my eyes kept watering due to the cold winds so it was very difficult to see where the Sun was and that focus was in place. In this photo everything came together in a nice way and now it's much easier to look at without getting tears in my eyes.


Friday, January 24, 2014

Sunrise in Östersund

Soluppgång i Östersund denna morgon. Himlen fick en vacker gyllene färg precis bakom Rådhuset. I förgrunden syns en staty av det mytomspunna Storsjöodjuret.

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Sunrise in Östersund this morning. The sky had a golden color just behind Rådhuset (City hall). In the foreground you can see a statue of the mythical Great-Lake Monster (Storsjöodjuret in Swedish).


Saturday, January 18, 2014

Sun pillars

Finally we're getting some really cold winter here in Östersund. January and February is one of my favorite time of the year due to the fantastic warm sunlight here in the north during those two months. Today there was some very strong sun pillars over Storsjön. They are caused by ice crystals drifting in the air.


Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Best Swedish Astronomy Picture in 2013

I've just received news that I've won first price in the photo contest "Best Swedish astro and space photohraphy 2013. It is a photo competition organized by the Swedish astronomy magazine Populär Astronomi. I won with my close-up photo of the sun from September 4 in 2013.

There are many talented astro photographers in Sweden, so I'm incredibly honored to receive this price and it also inspires me for 2014.

You can read more about the contest and see the top 10 list here

http://www.popast.nu/astrobilder13


Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Big sunspot

Here's a shot from the sunrise this morning showing the great #sunspot that's currently visible on the Sun. I could clearly see the sunspot in the viewfinder of my camera. It's twice the size of Earths diameter and is one of the biggest spots for a long time.

Yesterday it produced a strong solar flare that produced a CME (Coronal mass ejection) that is almost certainly heading for Earth. So be on a lookout for #aurora the upcoming days.


Monday, January 6, 2014

Curator of Sweden

This coming week I will be curator of the Twitter account @Sweden. This account is owned by Visit Sweden (http://www.visitsweden.com) that promotes the brand of Sweden and Swedish destinations and experiences internationally. Every week, someone in Sweden is @Sweden. For seven days, he or she recommends things to do and places to see, sharing diverse opinions, and ideas along the way.

During my week as an curator of @Sweden I will talk a lot about astronomy and what you can see in the night sky. I will also show you photos from our lovely province Jämtland and hopefully I’ll inspire you to get out in the night, and perhaps even get you to visit Jämtland.

Read more about Curator of Sweden here - http://curatorsofsweden.com/