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Tag Archives: northern lights

Did you see the Northern Lights last night? I had seen predictions of a good show but a partly cloudy sky didn’t leave me too optimistic. I did get a camera and tripod out, just in case. Shortly after dark, a friend texted me an amazing shot of bright red color from her phone! I quickly found my warmest coat and put on some boots and grabbed the setup. I started with a 24-70 mm lens but quickly went inside for the 14-24 mm lens. The light show covered so much of the sky. I longed to be somewhere other than home where my view is cluttered with power lines, homes with all their lights burning and the infernal light of the Winthrop hockey rink. Sigh. Still, it was a great show, til the clouds rolled in.

When I first got outside, the lights were pinkish with green but then turned more orange and red. The show started in the northwest, then moved across the sky to mostly north and then at the same time, they appeared to the east and southeast! Clouds added some real drama to the lights. The last photo shows the clouds illuminated from above by the Aurora and from below by the hockey rink.

I woke at 2:30 am and the Aurora Borealis was shining bright!

As often happens, I needed to get up to relieve myself around 2:30 or so and I noticed that the sky to the north was exceptionally bright. I knew that there was a strong possibility of an Aurora Borealis so my camera was ready. I struggled with my sleepy self but managed to get outside and make some images til the blue hour began and Aurora faded. After seeing other people’s photos, I am pretty sure I missed most of a pretty good light show.

How is a person supposed to sleep when the Aurora Borealis is so bright and active?

The lights started early in the evening with colorful displays that could be picked up by our own eyes. The camera, of course, saw even more. Then it settled down for a while til I was ready for bed and it became even more active, filling the entire sky to the north and east and partly to the west. The colors went from magenta and green to a bright red and much lighter green. A 14mm lens was not wide enough to capture the show.

There was a faint showing of the northern lights before I went to bed last night but it seemed to be fading. Others stayed up longer and had a nicer show.

I woke early and thought it was beginning to get light outside. I have a long day ahead of me so I thought it was time to get up but the clock said it wasn’t so. Then my brain began to wake up and reminded me about the Aurora so I jumped out of bed and went outside. Sure enough.

There are many images and it’s hard to pick a few favorites.