Today in 1892, the first successful auroral photograph was made by the German physicist Martin Brendel. Although it was limited to a blurred, low-contrast picture, it did convey some sense of the shape of the aurora. The task was not easy because the auroral light itself was generally feeble and flickering while photographic materials of the time required a long exposure, and was little sensitive to the deep reds in the aurora. One of his photographs, taken on 1 Feb 1892 was published in the Century Magazine of Oct 1897. Brendel had traveled to Alten Fiord, Lapland, to spend several months studying auroral displays and magnetic disturbances.
The first color pictures were not taken until about 1950, and Life magazine published color aurora photographs in 1953.
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