Paul Le Comte 🇳🇿🇨🇦📷
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paullecomtephoto.nz
Paul Le Comte 🇳🇿🇨🇦📷
@paullecomtephoto.nz
6.8K followers 3.7K following 23K posts
Caffeinated Hypermediated Photographer. Sad devotion to Nikon, typefaces, Everton, Canucks, UK indie & NZ roots music. Results may vary depending on caffeine & alcohol intake. Toitū Te Tiriti. 323ppm

https://paullecomtephoto.nz
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Thank's to Tom for providing the earworm that's my soundtrack this wintery Saturday morning in my part of New Zealand.

Going back in the catalogue, one of the greatest albums of all time, Between 10th & 11th.
For those who don't know, the 2nd album from UK band The Charlatans is possibly my top 5 albums of all time. The non existent break / segue between tracks 8 "Weirdo" & 9 "Chewing Gum Weekend" is one of my favourite moments on any album ever. A record cover showing some aging bananas & a solid 90s style graphic tan brown bar element with the bands name
November 14, 2025 at 9:59 PM
paullecomtephoto.nz
I did take a video of the approaching cloud.

The crazy thing is they look like there's nothing behind them, but the second they pass over all hell breaks loose - almost an optical illusion. These frontal clouds are some of my fav.

#Nikon #Storm #Cloudage #Dunedin
Detail of the roll cloud tumbling & turning as it approaches me
November 14, 2025 at 6:25 AM
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The most beautiful roll cloud came up Otago Harbour to Muaūpoko Otago Peninsula heralding a change from the mild evening we were having to a cold & windy southerly (yes I am BBQing).

Roll clouds are detached from the clouds above & associated with turbulent air.

#Nikon #Storm #Dunedin
a 7 frame panorama of the roll cloud coming up the harbour. It literally was rolling towards me, you could see it tumbling towards me
November 14, 2025 at 6:22 AM
paullecomtephoto.nz
Summer vibes from Whakahekerau St Clair beach a few years back before they all disappeared.

Ōtepoti Dunedin, NZ

#Nikon #Photography
The old groynes poles on a sandy beach with clear blue skies
November 14, 2025 at 4:26 AM
paullecomtephoto.nz
Thanks that's a 7 frame pano on my Nikon stitched together in lightroom - on a 20mm lens, even then I couldn't get the whole thing in. Some as so massive, same thing form last year from the hills above my town, Dunedin NZ - 9 frame pano
November 14, 2025 at 4:23 AM
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Both events are related to the same solar storms coming form an X class flare event on the sun (there was a third pulse due). I picked times in the night when the data was more or less comparable yet as you can see the difference between the two Tahu-nui-a-rangi Aurora couldn't be more stark.

2/3
Two dashboards from the iOS app Aurora Alerts. On the left is Weds night's data & Thursday is on the right. Overhead possibility similar Solar wind was significantly faster the duller 2nd night Aurora forecast oval (not shown here) were similar Solar charged particle density was greater on the first night (related to Bz) BUT the biggest difference is Bz. On Weds the strength of the polarity of the solar wind really mattered. Basically strong negative factor allows the solar wind to 'grab onto' our magnetic field & pull itself down to our polar regions. The most important parameter is Bz, the z-component of the sun's magnetic field. When Bz goes negative, the solar wind strongly couples to the Earth's magnetosphere. 11 Think of Bz as the door that allows transferring of significant amounts of energy. The more negative Bz goes, the more energy that can be transferred, resulting in more geomagnetic activity. The longer the Bz has been negative, and the strong it is negative the stronger the aurora will be. However, if the strength of the magnetic field is low, and the Bz is only registering -1 or -2 nT, aurora will be unlikely. The Kp-index is a global auroral activity indicator on a scale from 0 to 9. You can use it as a guide to estimate how active the aurora is and at what latitude aurora might be visible. This index is based on the USAF Wing Kp-index. Sp.The latest observed Kp-value comes from KP the most recently available magnetometer measurement. Kp indices between 0 and 1 are usually only visible from areas at magnetic latitude of 66, which are directly under the auroral oval. Middle latitudes need a Kp-index from about 4 to 7 depending on where you are. Bt is a measure of the strength of the magnetic field at the ACE satellite. Bt reacts to the interaction between the magnetic field of earth and the magnetic field generated by the particles being carried in the solar wind. p/ca sp dmagine a large cloud of particles, produced by a CME on the Sun, that carry a magnetic charge passing Earth, they will exert a magnetic force on Earth as they pass. Bt measures the strength of as it passes.
November 13, 2025 at 8:27 PM
paullecomtephoto.nz
Mōrena e te whānau, a wee explainer about the difference between the two Tahu-nui-a-rangi #Aurora Australis (southern hemisphere) on Weds (left) & Thurs (right) nights, & why Bz (not Kp) is the single biggest factor in seeing visible lights in the sky.

1/3

#Nikon #NZ #Science
Weds night Tahu-nui-a-rangi Aurora Australis from Chrystalls Beach about 40km south of Dunedin with a magnificent array of bright rays through green, yellow & red aurora lights Thursday night's Tahu-nui-a-rangi Aurora as seen from Muaūpoko Otago Peninsula, Dunedin city. You can see the whole sky is glowing predominately pinky purple hues, there's a lot of energy in the sky
November 13, 2025 at 8:27 PM
paullecomtephoto.nz
& while that was the WSW edge of the Aurora, this was the ESE flank & you may think I'm bonkers, I considered this amazing display not good enough to hang around, lol.

Last shot I took last night.
A bright trans flag in the night c/- of massive Aurora going off the coast
November 13, 2025 at 10:51 AM
paullecomtephoto.nz
I wasn't actually going for Subaru in it's natural environment pic, but if I say the name Richard Attenborough, you'll read the next line in your head in his voice.

Here's Paul's Subaru XV parked up with an Aurora Australis dazzling in the night sky of the rugged South Otago Coast of New Zealand
The western edge of the Aurora was pulsing photons & it was magnificent - my car is parked under the aurora
November 13, 2025 at 10:48 AM
paullecomtephoto.nz
I’m calling it a night atm.

Bz is not playing ball. All other data is great, wow this shows how strong a driver it is in giving us visible Aurora.

Mmmm an early night, bliss.
November 13, 2025 at 10:11 AM
paullecomtephoto.nz
I’m out in Company Bay shooting a weak Aurora.

Why so weak given the data looking so good you ask?

2 reasons, BZ is neutral & GOES magnetometers are showing energy is still building.

Bz is a massive driver of visible Aurora. Needs to dive negative.
November 13, 2025 at 9:43 AM
paullecomtephoto.nz
Pretty conclusive.
November 13, 2025 at 9:14 AM
paullecomtephoto.nz
Tonight’s #Aurora is going gang busters in Alaska & Western Canada atm.

In NZ it won’t be as intense as last night, BUT should be visible across a wider NZ. Good luck to all those going out. I’m not racing out tonight.
November 13, 2025 at 7:27 AM
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Super massive 210° panorama of the south east Otago coast from Chrystalls Beach as the #Aurora australis was waining a bit (yeah this wasn't even the insane bit).

Cooks Rock is an old volcanic vent & impressive rock.

#Nikon #NZ #Panorama
A huge aurora panorama with clouds & crazy lights
November 13, 2025 at 5:31 AM
paullecomtephoto.nz
Now here's something you don't normally see 45°S in the mid latitudes, there's red aurora glow in the sky FACING NORTH! That glow is Ōtepoti Dunedin some 45km away.

#Aurora #NZ #Nikon
Sand dunes, clouds & aurora with a city glow in the background
November 13, 2025 at 3:53 AM
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& to prove how BONKERS last night's monster Aurora was, remember this was during a period of calming down, here's my Adobe Lightroom colour settings - I haven't increased or saturated any of the colours. Just basic brightness & contrast.

#BehindTheScenes #Aurora #Lightroom #NZ
A panel in Adobe Lightroom where you adjust the Hue, Saturation & Luminance of the various colours in an image. Here I haven't adjusted anything, The Aurora was BONKERS
November 13, 2025 at 3:35 AM
paullecomtephoto.nz
#Aurora have many different stages throughout the night, & at 10pm the display was waining (just a bit, trust the data), I had stopped my timelapse to have some fun as I thought the cloud was coming in.

Incredibly this was during a lull in the display. Selfie time.

#Nikon #Photography #NewZealand
Me standing on the beach looking out at the Aurora as the clouds were coming in.
November 13, 2025 at 3:32 AM
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Only 1/2hr after sunset, while taking a timelapse, this was happening in front of my camera (timelapse processing later).

This was about 1/4 of the #Aurora happening off the South Otago coast.

#Nikon #NZ #AuroraAustralis

Nikon Z7ii 20mmS ISO f/1.8 1.3 seconds
One frame from a crazy multi coloured aurora dancing in the southern skies as I was taking a timelapse.
November 13, 2025 at 3:27 AM
paullecomtephoto.nz
This monster 80° vertical x 170° wide panorama of the South Otago coast at Chrystalls Beach just as the aurora was becoming visible gives a hint at the scale of what was about to happen (all hell broke loose). You can see it's still dusk in the SW sky!

#Nikon #Aurora #NZ
A 7 frame panorama of the aurora kicking off long after sunset but before darkness. Clouds, a beach, the Pacific Ocean & bonkers colours in the sky
November 13, 2025 at 3:02 AM
paullecomtephoto.nz
My son sending me pics of Aurora from his apartment in southern Wisconsin right NOW

I can see why!

#Aurora part deux has kicked off

www.spaceweatherlive.com/en/auroral-a...
November 13, 2025 at 2:57 AM
paullecomtephoto.nz
Only once in the previous Solar Cycle (some 13 years ago) did I capture the #Aurora in the due east sky off the Otago coast. but certainly not with dusk still glowing in the south (right) and certainly not this colourful.

#Nikon #NZ
A crazy iridescent rainbow of colours in the sky - a beach & some sea.
November 13, 2025 at 2:30 AM
paullecomtephoto.nz
ruh-roh, 'you can't park there sir', the Aurora building it's outer edges is NOT meant to be happening in the ENE sky - absolutely no point taking a timelapse, this thing is too big.

#Nikon #Aurora #Otago #NZ #Photography
November 13, 2025 at 2:25 AM
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I knew I was in trouble when only 5mins later, still not dark, the Aurora was clearly visible in the eastern sky (set up for a new timelapse).

Remember this is still effectively daylight - this was gonna be huge as the young folk say.

#Aurora #Otago #NZ #Nikon
All the colours of the rainbow in the sky from the Aurora that was making itself visible a good 20mins before it should have been technically possible to see one.
November 13, 2025 at 2:16 AM
paullecomtephoto.nz
This view, more or less due south, should have been perfect for the #Aurora. A 20mm lens on a mirrorless Nikon camera equals a 95° wide X 83° tall field of view, more than enough for most Aurora... ho boy was I wrong on both fronts. 9pm & all locked down for a timelapse.

#NewZealand #Nikon
The view south to the absolute last of the setting sun with high clouds, a sandy beach & some faint stars
November 13, 2025 at 2:07 AM
paullecomtephoto.nz
Cooks Rock at Chrystalls Beach, South Otago was not only out of the nasty NE wind absolutely lashing the Otago coast, but it was also relatively warm, Sea Lion & Fur Seal free & I could park right up.

Sunset with a hint of Aurora top right - still 30mins till dark.

#Aurora #NZ #Nikon
My Subaru parked up at the end of the beach access road with a big fuck off ex volcanic vent rock & a colourful setting sun behind
November 13, 2025 at 2:02 AM