Night Sky Archive 67°N

Logbook · 2021 – 2026

Nights, written down

We kept loose notes from 2016, but in January 2021 we started a proper shared logbook: time, place, sky, temperature, and an honest line about what went wrong. These are twenty-four of the more memorable entries, newest first. The cloudy ones are mostly left out, which makes us look luckier than we are.

  • 24entries shown
  • −34.8 °Ccoldest
  • +29 °Cwarmest (Spain)

Key. Times are Finnish local time unless noted. SQM is sky brightness in magnitudes per square arcsecond — higher is darker; 21.5 or more is a properly dark sky. Kp is the planetary geomagnetic index, 0 to 9. Seeing for planetary nights is on the Pickering scale, 1 to 10. Observers: AL, JR, SK.

2026

  1. · Sodankylä, roll-off shed

    Season opener for the shed

    Time
    18:30 – 01:10
    Sky
    Cirrus, clear from 21:00
    Temp
    −6 → −9 °C
    Kp
    2
    SQM
    21.3
    Observers
    AL

    The pier moved: frost heave lifted the north side of the shed floor by a few millimetres over the summer, so the polar alignment was out by almost half a degree. Re-aligned, rebuilt the flats library for the ASI2600 and ran two hours on M33 as a test. Guiding at 0.6″ RMS once the wind dropped. Quiet green arc in the north all evening, which I ignored, for once.

    — Aino

  2. · Kilpisjärvi, Saana trailhead · 69.04°N 20.80°E

    Saana in green

    Time
    20:45 – 02:30
    Sky
    Clear, calm
    Temp
    +1 → −3 °C
    Kp
    6 (G2)
    SQM
    21.6
    Observers
    AL, JR, SK

    All three of us in one place for the first time since spring. Drove five hours on a forecast and it actually delivered: a substorm at 22:10, then curtains folding over Saana for forty minutes. The lake was still open and steaming slightly. Joonas got the frame of the year on the Laowa; Saara filmed a real-time clip on the A7 III at 1/4 s.

    — Saara

  3. · near Burgos, Spain · 42.3°N 3.7°W

    Totality, 3 000 km south

    Time
    19:25 – 20:45 CEST
    Sky
    Haze, thin high cloud
    Temp
    +29 → +24 °C
    Event
    Total solar eclipse
    Gear
    A7 IV, 70–200, solar film
    Observers
    AL, SK

    We picked a hillside with a clear western view because the Sun would be only about ten degrees up at totality. The haze worried us all afternoon. Then the light went metallic, the temperature dropped, the shadow came across the plain from the west, and there was the corona — pale, spiky, with two pink prominences at the bottom. A little under two minutes. It felt like ten seconds. We forgot most of the bracketing plan and do not regret it.

    — Aino

  4. · Lake Inari ice, Inari village · 68.91°N 27.03°E

    Equinox curtains on the ice

    Time
    21:10 – 00:40
    Sky
    Clear
    Temp
    −19 °C
    Kp
    5
    SQM
    21.5
    Observers
    JR

    Walked 400 m out on the ice from the village shore (62 cm thick at the ice-fishing hole, checked). Classic March night: the sky stayed active from ten until midnight with two separate substorms. Shot with the islands as foreground. Snow squeaking underfoot is the loudest thing out there.

    — Joonas

  5. · Sodankylä, roll-off shed

    Pinwheel, last night of four

    Time
    19:00 – 05:20
    Sky
    Clear, very transparent
    Temp
    −29 °C
    Kp
    1
    SQM
    21.5
    Observers
    AL

    Final night on M101 with the Esprit: 42 more subs, bringing the total to 140 × 300 s over 9, 11, 18 and 19 February. The shed roof froze to its rails at 03:00 and needed a kettle of hot water to close in the morning. Handed the stack to Saara, who will spend the next three weeks on it.

    — Aino

  6. · Orajärvi road clearing, Sodankylä

    Quadrantids versus the full Moon

    Time
    02:30 – 03:15
    Sky
    Clear, bright Moon
    Temp
    −24 °C
    Kp
    2
    Count
    14 meteors / 45 min
    Observers
    AL, SK

    We knew the full Moon would ruin it and went anyway, because the Quadrantid radiant is high all night up here and that rarely happens with a clear sky. Counted fourteen in 45 minutes, two of them bright enough to beat the moonlight. No usable photographs. A good thermos night.

    — Saara

2025

  1. · Sodankylä, Aino’s yard

    Severe storm

    Time
    19:40 – 02:00
    Sky
    Broken cloud, clear by 20:30
    Temp
    −11 °C
    Kp
    8 (G4)
    SQM
    19.9 (aurora)
    Observers
    AL (SK in Rovaniemi)

    The CME arrived early in the evening. By 21:00 the sky was red from the south almost to the zenith, and the brightest green was in the southern sky — the oval had expanded so far that we were on its poleward side. Saara sent photos from Rovaniemi of pink rays straight overhead. Neighbours out in the street in slippers. The SQM read 19.9, which tells you nothing except that the aurora was brighter than a suburban sky.

    — Aino

  2. · Kitinen river bank, Sodankylä

    Comet Lemmon, low in the north-west

    Time
    19:15 – 21:00
    Sky
    Clear, low haze
    Temp
    −3 °C
    Kp
    3
    Target
    C/2025 A6 (Lemmon)
    Observers
    AL, SK

    Found it in binoculars below the handle of the Plough as the twilight faded, a small green head with a thin tail. The 135 mm frames show about eight degrees of ion tail with some structure. Aurora kept brightening behind it, which is beautiful and terrible for processing. Not gallery material, but a sixth comet for the list.

    — Saara

  3. · Sodankylä, roll-off shed

    First light for the shed: Saturn, then North America

    Time
    21:30 – 04:10
    Sky
    Clear
    Temp
    +4 → +1 °C
    Kp
    2
    Seeing / SQM
    5/10 · 21.2
    Observers
    AL, SK

    The roll-off roof finally runs on its rails. Saara borrowed the pier first for Saturn at opposition, only 19° up and boiling, but with the rings almost edge-on it was too strange to skip. Then the RedCat went back on and NGC 7000 ran until morning twilight. Champagne in plastic cups at 04:00. The neighbours’ dog did not approve.

    — Aino

  4. · Kemijärvi, east shore · 66.71°N 27.43°E

    The Moon rose eclipsed

    Time
    20:00 – 22:30
    Sky
    Partly cloudy, east clear
    Temp
    +9 °C
    Kp
    3
    Event
    Total lunar eclipse
    Observers
    AL, JR

    Totality began at 20:30 local time, right as the Moon rose, so it came up already dark red and very hard to find. We spotted it in binoculars about ten minutes after moonrise, sitting just above the far shore. Totality ended at 21:53 and the bright edge returned. Mosquitoes, in September, at 66 degrees north. Unfair.

    — Joonas

  5. · Sodankylä, Aino’s yard

    A bite out of the Sun

    Time
    12:10 – 14:30
    Sky
    Clear, bright snow
    Temp
    −8 °C
    Event
    Partial solar eclipse
    Gear
    72ED, solar film filter
    Observers
    AL, SK

    A deep partial eclipse in the early afternoon, the Moon taking a good bite from the top of the Sun. Solar film on the 72ED, taped on twice because of the wind. Aino’s ninth-graders came round with eclipse glasses and a pinhole box made from a cereal packet; the pinhole projection was honestly the highlight. One sunspot group visible near the limb.

    — Saara

  6. · Sodankylä, Aino’s yard

    Mars at opposition

    Time
    21:00 – 01:30
    Sky
    Clear
    Temp
    −31 °C
    Kp
    1
    Seeing
    6/10
    Observers
    SK

    Mars 47° up in Gemini, which is about as high as a planet ever gets for us. Twelve videos of 2 000 frames each with the C8; the north polar cap and the dark markings came through clearly in the best three. The laptop shut itself down twice from cold. Note for next time: laptop in a cool-box with a hand warmer, not on the snow.

    — Saara

2024

  1. · Sodankylä, Aino’s yard

    Jupiter at opposition

    Time
    20:30 – 00:45
    Sky
    Clear, ice crystals
    Temp
    −27 °C
    Kp
    2
    Seeing
    7/10
    Observers
    SK, AL

    Steadiest air of the winter. Jupiter 45° high in Taurus; the Great Red Spot crossed the central meridian at about 23:10. Ten three-minute videos, derotated in WinJUPOS. Ice crystals made a faint pillar above Jupiter itself, which looked lovely in the finder and terrible in the data.

    — Saara

  2. · Kitinen river bank, Sodankylä

    Tsuchinshan–ATLAS

    Time
    19:00 – 20:30
    Sky
    Clear low in the west
    Temp
    +2 °C
    Kp
    3
    Target
    C/2023 A3
    Observers
    AL

    Visible to the naked eye at 19:30 once you knew where to look: a short bright head low in the west-south-west and a long faint tail pointing straight up. The 35 mm frame could not fit all of the tail. Four days after the big storm. October 2024 was the best fortnight we have ever had.

    — Aino

  3. · Ukko-Luosto summit · 67.15°N 26.90°E

    The October storm

    Time
    20:30 – 01:30
    Sky
    Clear
    Temp
    −2 °C
    Kp
    8 (G4)
    Wind
    6 m/s on the summit
    Observers
    AL, JR

    A long, calm arc first, then the storm broke it into rays around 21:30 and a corona opened overhead. Half of Lapland seemed to be on the fell with head torches (see the aurora guide for the end of that story). Red tops on everything after 23:00.

    — Joonas

  4. · Kitinen river bank, Sodankylä

    A storm in the white night

    Time
    23:30 – 01:15
    Sky
    Clear, bright twilight
    Temp
    +4 °C
    Kp
    9 (G5)
    Sun
    ~8° below horizon
    Observers
    SK, AL

    Everyone south of us was posting the storm of the century, and here the sky never got dark. We went out anyway. Around midnight pink and violet rays appeared overhead against the blue twilight, faint to the eye but obvious on the camera at one second. Proof that a big enough storm beats the season.

    — Saara

2023

  1. · Kemijärvi, lake shore

    Pulsating patches

    Time
    19:30 – 23:45
    Sky
    Clear
    Temp
    −14 °C
    Kp
    6 – 7
    SQM
    21.1
    Observers
    SK

    Drove up from Rovaniemi after a late shift. The main substorm was over by the time I arrived, but afterwards the whole sky broke into soft patches switching on and off every few seconds, like slow breathing. Stacked fifteen one-second frames to show what the eye saw.

    — Saara

  2. · Kaunispää fell, Saariselkä · 68.44°N 27.43°E

    Corona overhead

    Time
    20:00 – 01:00
    Sky
    Clear
    Temp
    −17 °C
    Kp
    7 (G3)
    Wind
    4 m/s
    Observers
    AL, JR

    Back on the fell where we met, seven years later almost to the day. At 22:41 the corona opened directly overhead and everything moved for eleven minutes. I lay on my back in the snow with the 14 mm pointing straight up. Joonas left his mittens on the summit cairn and went back for them at 01:00 with a head torch.

    — Aino

  3. · Sodankylä, Aino’s yard

    The green comet near the pole

    Time
    18:30 – 23:30
    Sky
    Clear, Moon 80 %
    Temp
    −22 °C
    Kp
    2
    Target
    C/2022 E3 (ZTF)
    Observers
    SK, AL

    Closest approach to Earth. The comet sat in Camelopardalis not far from Polaris, so it never set and we could shoot it whenever the clouds allowed. A bright Moon washed out the faint tails, but the green coma came through fine on thirty 30-second frames at 135 mm.

    — Saara

2022

  1. · Lokka, Sodankylä · 67.82°N 27.75°E

    Two hours above the kota

    Time
    17:00 – 21:30
    Sky
    Clear, still
    Temp
    −26 °C
    Kp
    1
    SQM
    21.7
    Observers
    JR, SK

    A friend of Joonas lent us his kota by the reservoir. Fire inside, camera outside, 240 frames of 30 seconds while we grilled sausages and took turns checking the battery. Kaamos means it was fully dark by four in the afternoon, so we were home before ten. The doorway glow in the final stack is the fire.

    — Joonas

  2. · Sodankylä, Aino’s yard

    Six hours on Andromeda

    Time
    19:45 – 03:00
    Sky
    Clear, no Moon
    Temp
    −4 → −12 °C
    Kp
    3
    SQM
    21.4
    Observers
    AL

    First full night with the new ASI533MC Pro and the RedCat. Cooling to −10 °C was easy with the air already colder than that by midnight. Aurora kept drifting into the bottom of the frame, so the gradient removal was a fight. Seventy-two subs kept out of seventy-nine.

    — Aino

2021

  1. · Orajärvi road clearing, Sodankylä

    Our first red aurora

    Time
    18:15 – 23:00
    Sky
    Partly cloudy
    Temp
    −9 °C
    Kp
    7 (G3)
    SQM
    20.6
    Observers
    AL

    The storm hit early, before full darkness. In the camera the tops of the curtains were crimson — oxygen glowing high in the thin upper atmosphere. To the eye it was more of a dull rose, but unmistakable. Clouds came in from the west at 22:30 and I drove home grinning.

    — Aino

  2. · Lake Inari, Inari village shore

    The fox and the mirror

    Time
    21:30 – 00:30
    Sky
    Clear, windless
    Temp
    +6 °C
    Kp
    4
    SQM
    21.4
    Observers
    JR, AL

    Glassy water and a strong arc that turned into curtains just after 22:00. A red fox kept walking through the frame and sniffing the tripod. The reflection lasted about twenty minutes until a fishing boat came home. Autumn colours on the birches, which nobody could see in the dark.

    — Joonas

  3. · Pallas, Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park · 68.05°N 24.06°E

    Minus thirty-four point eight

    Time
    17:30 – 01:00
    Sky
    Clear, exceptional
    Temp
    −34.8 °C
    Kp
    1
    SQM
    21.8
    Observers
    AL, JR

    The first entry in the shared logbook, and still the coldest. Darkest SQM reading we have ever had. M81 and M82 almost at the zenith through the 72ED. Three camera batteries died before midnight, the tripod head froze solid, and Joonas’s beard had icicles by nine. Sixty-four usable subs. Worth it, but we bought a power bank the next day.

    — Aino