F
A
C
E
B
O
O
K

Manitoba Aurora and Astronomy Photography Contest 2021

This contest was an excellent opportunity to showcase beautiful images taken by avid aurora and astronomy hobbyist photographers from all over Manitoba. Over 100 unique images were submitted from 42 participants that all have their own keen vision of the night sky. Through online voting and juried selection, 6 were selected to be printed for display in the Western Manitoba Regional Library downtown Brandon Branch. The variety, uniqueness, and overall quality of the pool of images was outstanding - a true testament to the creativity and talent that exists in friendly Manitoba.

Manitoba Aurora and Astronomy is a facebook group dedicated towards sharing the beauty of the night sky Manitoba has to offer. Our goal is to give everyone a fair and equal chance at witnessing the Aurora Borealis for themselves without having to travel far from their home. To keep our community informed we create what is called a thread then pin it to the top of the group. The thread is created on days the aurora chances are elevated. Aurora Chasers from all over Manitoba work together to read and interpret the current conditions, then will give the rest of the community an idea on whether they should get out or not. As the night goes on group members share what they are seeing and where they are. This gives the other members an idea of how bright the aurora is at that time, and whether they are missing out or not. On active nights it is common for our thread to have over 1000 comments.

While we create threads we also look to the future and give the community an idea on what they can expect for the coming weeks. Whether that is aurora, a meteor shower, lunar eclipse, and much more! We are here to keep the community up to date on what is happening in the night sky.

Our group members are more than welcome to share their photos, artwork, or stories from being out under the night sky!

Manitoba Aurora and Astronomy was created in July 2020 by Justin Anderson & Ryan Lucenkiw. It is now managed by a team consisting of Justin Oertel, Donna Lach, Ashley Park & Justin Jaron Lewis.

Our community grew to 2000 members by the end of our first year, with plenty of interest from newcomers to Canada in hopes to witness the aurora for themselves. After a very successful aurora chase in February 2021 hundreds of people witnessed the aurora for themselves and even captured it with their cell phones. With help from CBC Manitoba, CTV National News, Global News, and many more local news outlets our group was put in the spotlight. Our community grew to over 20,000 people and is not slowing down anytime soon.

We’d like to give special thanks to:

The creating/managing team of the Manitoba Aurora and Astronomy Facebook Group

The Western Manitoba Regional Library

Keywest Photo - image by design inc.

All entrants to this contest for their dedication and hard work

All images are copyright protected

James Deng - Location: near Netley, Manitoba - Date: July 14, 2020, 1:00 am

Equipment: Olympus OMD E-M1II, Olympus 8mm f/1.8 lens

Exif: ISO: 1600, Aperture: f/1.8, Shutter Speed: 3.2 seconds