Red sky at night: is it dust?

[leandroprz]

Some time ago I shot a night timelapse during a really windy night. When I rendered the video I noticed some red areas on the sky. Take a look at the right of the image:



You can see the sequence here at 02:14. The red stuff is more noticeable right before the moon sets.

Can anyone please explain me what is going on here? Dust maybe?

Thanks!

[Ann]

Not that I know, of course, but to me it looks as if the faint red streaks could be a very faint red aurora.

Ann

[leandroprz]

Not that I know, of course, but to me it looks as if the faint red streaks could be a very faint red aurora.

Ann

I don't think that's possible because this was taken in Northern Argentina. As far as I know, we can't see auroras from here (we are far away from both poles).

[Ann]

Not that I know, of course, but to me it looks as if the faint red streaks could be a very faint red aurora.

Ann

I don't think that's possible because this was taken in Northern Argentina. As far as I know, we can't see auroras from here (we are far away from both poles).

Indeed, if you are in northern Argentina, then you are far from either pole. I checked this map to see that northernmost Argentina is just north of the Tropic of Capricorn.

Even so, I believe that those red streaks might just be some very faint auroras. Check out this page. I realize that Texas is closer to the North Pole than northern Argentina is to the South Pole, but even so, Texas is pretty far away from the North Pole. And yet, as you can see from the page I linked to, Texas does occasionally get auroras.

Ann

P.S. Florida is even farther away from the North Pole than Texas, and yet auroras are seen in Florida, too.

http://home.comcast.net/~tprinty/Astronomy/aurora.htm wrote:
My first experiences with Aurora surprisingly occurred in Orlando, Florida on March 13, 1989. On that evening, I had to take out the garbage for the next day and suddenly noticed the sky was an odd red color. As I pondered the color of the sky, I assumed a fire must be nearby but heard no fire engines/alarms. A glance towards the first quarter moon revealed a red glow around it and suddenly, I realized that the recent solar flare event had triggered a massive aurora visible at my latitude. The actual event was seen in the Bahamas!

[Chris Peterson]

I don't think that's possible because this was taken in Northern Argentina. As far as I know, we can't see auroras from here (we are far away from both poles).

Photographic auroras are present all the way to the Equator at times, so you could certainly have caught one. You could go back through online data and see what the solar activity was like when you took these images. However, the structure looks to me like clouds, not an aurora. It's too stable for an aurora, and you don't see any characteristic streamers, columns, rays, or other features typically seen. Throughout your video other reddened clouds are visible, as well. I think you just have a very thin cloud layer that is either picking up a bit of light pollution, or possibly scattering some red from the moonlight.

[leandroprz]

You could go back through online data and see what the solar activity was like when you took these images.

I've been searching for data but haven't found any website with such information. Where can I check that?

However, the structure looks to me like clouds, not an aurora. It's too stable for an aurora, and you don't see any characteristic streamers, columns, rays, or other features typically seen. Throughout your video other reddened clouds are visible, as well. I think you just have a very thin cloud layer that is either picking up a bit of light pollution, or possibly scattering some red from the moonlight.

In that case I guess it's moonlight because there wasn't light pollution there.