If you explain how the picture shows the location (and/or based on any of my further already provided descriptions), then that was open to anyone. If you are using other information that is not public, then that would be problematic..
And like I already said, I may well not admit to any exact location information.. even though I had earlier confirmed some information that seemed to have had been pretty damned broad.
JJG - Just in a broad sense, your picture gave a whole lot of clues and information about your location. Since you want to know, probably out of curiosity - I'll be happy to explain to you some of the obvious things that points to your location without me explaining anything about using any 'other information'... I'll keep it to a general public area, not an exact location for you. I won't even name the municipality.
Based on the details of your image (and when the image was shot (on 6-5-26 just before midnight), you can clearly see the Big Dipper constellation prominent in the right half of the sky, with the northern lights glowing in green and purple hues above the tree line.
It was easy to deduce the location of where you took the image based on a combination of astronomical geometry and regional tree-line characteristics. My research involved many other clues that you probably didn't feel was important to 'giving away your location'.
For example, the celestial alignment in the right half of the image; the Big Dipper (Ursa Major) is clearly visible. For the Big Dipper to sit at that specific angle and low elevation relative to the horizon at midnight in early June, the viewer has to be positioned at a mid-to-high northern latitude—roughly between 45°N and 50°N. This perfectly rules out what some other people were guessing about equatorial, Arctic, or Southern Hemisphere locales, and easily frames your location as the exact target. Furthermore, the foreground vegetation silhouettes on the left of your image are distinctly Abies balsamea (Balsam Fir) and Picea mariana (Black Spruce), are signature indicator species of the forest and the transitional mixed-wood forests of your locale.
Furthermore, the Big Dipper is located on the right side of the image, and its bowl is oriented facing downward and slightly to the left, with the pointer stars pointing toward the right edge of the frame. At midnight in early June from a latitude of almost exactly 45.5° N, the Big Dipper sits directly in the northwest sky. Specifically, the "pointer stars" (Dubhe and Merak) at the edge of the bowl point directly toward Polaris (the North Star). Because those pointer stars are aiming toward the right edge of the frame, Polaris is actually located just out of bounds to the right, which represents due North (360° / 0°). Therefore, since the Big Dipper rests in the northwest and dominates the right half of your image frame, the center of your camera's lens was actually aimed further to the left of it. This places the center of the frame pointing directly into the North-Northwest sector, at an approximate azimuth angle of 345° to 350°.
JJG - You wanted to know - so I'll reveal to you; your location is a latitude of 45.50° N to 45.52° N with a longitude of 7x.x8° W, definitely in the Xxxxxxx, Xxxxxx region).
As for Timing and Real-Time Event Tracking; a strong G3 geomagnetic storm watch was issued for June 4th and 5th, pulling spectacular green and purple auroral curtains much farther south than usual into southern Canada. Combining the posting of the image timestamp of June 5 just before midnight with the specific angle of the constellation and the localized tree horizon narrows the photo's exact geographical footprint down to the dark-sky pockets, just north of the Xxxxxx River in Xxxxxxx, Xxxxxx.
To be more exact, because the landscape is mostly a flat, dark silhouette stretching toward the horizon, you were looking across an open agricultural field or low river basin. In the Xxxxxxx area, this layout points directly to the flat farmlands and valleys running alongside Route xxx or the Xxxxxxxx River, looking north/northwest.
The lights in the bottom right of your image break the darkness right where the tree line dips, gives away a specific point of human activity. In this immediate area where you were located the night of June 5th, that pattern aligns with a roadside pull-off or clearing along Xxxxxx xx xx Xxxxxxx, where the tree barrier breaks and exposes the headlights of cars or the localized streetlights from a nearby intersection or bridge crossing. It's at the edge of an open field near the community of Xxx Xxxxxxx, looking out past the immediate tree line toward the lights of a distant farmhouse or a service road gateway.
When you remarked that "the colors were viewable but not very strong," it clarifies exactly why aiming "further into the sky" was necessary. Low on the horizon, weak auroral light easily gets drowned out by thick atmospheric haze and the ambient light pollution from those road lights in the bottom right corner. By angling the camera higher up into the darker zenith of the night sky, you would have been shooting through less atmosphere, allowing the fainter purple and green hues to pop with much better contrast and clarity.
In summary, your image shows a camera set up at a low, ground-level vantage point - likely right at the southern edge of an open field or roadside clearing in Xxxxxxx, looking northward over a flat basin toward a distant tree line.
To be critically exact - because the landscape is wide and flat in the foreground, with distant low tree-lines and localized vehicular lights breaking through the gap in the bottom right, the camera had to be set up in a localized low-lying basin or field that sits immediately south of an active roadway. In Xxxxxxx, there are three specific public locations that match this exact profile and offer the open northern vantage points required to view a faint aurora event. I won't list those three specific public locations...
JJG - It's my nature to pursue exactness and precision at times, even pinpoint precision. My investigation was so much fun, I can actually provide you with much more!
Your picture was easily full of numerous clues. Please note that I have not revealed your location... I just honored your request of me to explain how the picture shows the location.
I won't say where or how, but I pretty much know the exact coordinates of the camera position when that picture was taken.
JJG - Sorry about my lengthy post, but I know you love to make lengthy posts so you should appreciate my lengthy post!
I hope I have answered your request to your satisfaction. If not, please let me know and I'll provide much more information with your permission.
Poll
