Last night I spent two hours at Washington Pass with three other people practicing night photography. It’s still a work in progress for me with much to learn. It was a lovely night and hazy clouds came and went sometimes obscuring many of the stars or the Milky Way. We did get a little bit of the northern lights though.
Do you like dark night skies full of stars? Support efforts to preserve them like this one happening in our valley.
I received a notification that there might be northern lights/aurora borealis last night so was ready to stay out late in cool fall evening. Well, maybe I should have worn shoes instead of sandals because it was a stunning show – the best I’ve ever seen – and I was out later than I planned and my feet were freezing when I finally came inside. There may be more tonight. I will wear shoes.
It’s interesting that many of my recent blog posts which are, admittedly, few and far between these days, are about the night sky. Or hikes. But certainly I seem to be paying more attention to the night sky. I’ve always appreciated dark skies not illuminated by artificial lighting. But why more photos of the night? It’s never been something I’ve pursued. Maybe it’s because at night, I don’t see the devastation that came from wildfires the last two summers? Or maybe as I age I gain a greater appreciation for the infinite reaches of the space outside our own atmosphere? Or maybe I just don’t sleep as much as I used to!
Anyway, for whatever reason, here is another set of images from the Aurora Borealis. It’s best to watch the slide show but you never know when you get to the end!
There is a chance that the lights will continue this week but I am feeling sleep deprived so this might be the last of the night postings for a while.
Last night’s power outage made for a darker than usual night. No moon and no hazy skies also provided good looks at stars and meteors and even the northern lights! We are lucky to have less light pollution than a lot of places.
The dogs thought I was nuts standing out there in the dark and they went inside to bed. I was only up til midnight when it seemed like the aurora faded away. This morning I learned that they were even more dramatic in the wee hours of the morning. A girl’s got to sleep sometime!
Last night I saw on FB that my friend Julie was seeing the Aurora Borealis from her place. She’s at least 50 or 60 miles east of here and 30 miles north but still in Okanogan County. We do get to see them here from time to time so I went out to see what I could see. There was a long glow on the northern horizon but nothing too exciting and I was underdressed for being outside on a cold night (still adjusting to fall temperatures). Inside, I found some warmer clothes and put my camera on its tripod and returned to the porch. Luna kept following me around and looking at me like I was nuts but that’s how it is when you’re a dog.
After a while the sky got brighter and soon there were curtains and streaks and colors and it was all very exciting for an hour or so. My view to the NW is blocked and I wonder what my friends across the valley were seeing – something even more spectacular is my guess.
I love that I can see the Big Dipper in some of the images!
My Everyday Photos 