Two aurora borealis mornings
In the past week, I’ve been out shooting the aurora 4 times, but the mornings of December 17th and 18th are the main ones I want to show you. On the 13th, there were 2 brief shows, one at 03:40 that wasn’t very impressive and again that night at 8:00 pm. I was out taking photos for 5 minutes for the first display, then posted a photo and this comment in my aurora photo group: “A show is going on right now (started 25 minutes ago – Mary Lake, clear skies, temperature 0, strong winds). Just a bit, but the Kp is only 2.5, and any aurora is a gift.”
The second show only lasted 20 minutes but had some great reds, so next is 2 photos from that event. The orange at the lower left of both is the glow from the city reflecting on low clouds.
The third event, on the morning of December 17th, was an odd one. There was no aurora during the period of high Kp, but when I got up and looked outside at about 03:20 there was a glimmer of light that I thought had potential. I went back in and screenshot the forecast as the Kp neared 3.
I got my camera gear together, and by 04:18 a good display had started, low in the western sky (which is unusual). I began recording it with this shot, which in daylight looks from my deck to the corral and on to the mountain called Golden Horn.
From there the display quickly expanded to fill much of the sky, and there was a lot of motion with wonderful patterns and a bit of colour. I found myself changing exposure settings a few times, which I don’t normally do – the next photo was shot at ISO 1250 for 6 seconds (the one above was ISO 1250 for 13 seconds). I don’t often guess wrong at the settings anymore 🙂
A look back at the house at 04:34, with a particularly interesting aurora pattern. I thought about driving to a better shooting location, but two things kept me at home – opening the garage door to get my car out might wake Cathy up, and I had no faith that the display would continue for long.
The next photo was shot looking almost straight up at 04:36, which seems to have been about the peak of the show.
I went back out onto the street for the next photo. Notice how the light of my headlamp changes the colour of the aurora, with the White Balance set on Auto (I’m shooting with a Canon EOS 7D Mark II).
While going through the photos, I noticed that the Dove of Peace had appeared at 04:39, with her wings and tail spread to land to the left.
The aurora then started to fade, and when I shot the next photo at 04:47, clouds had also started to move in. I went inside, but peeked out and shot one final photo 9 minutes later, of a bright display showing to the west between the clouds.
And that takes us to yesterday, the 18th. I missed a very impressive show at midnight. I went to bed at 10 – despite a very strong feeling that I should stay up, I was exhausted and couldn’t do it. I had brought my clothes and everything out to the kitchen before going to bed, feeling that going for a drive might happen.
I shot the first photo in the driveway right at 04:00.
Another photo from 04:07, then I went in, got changed, pulled the car out of the garage, and headed out, initially to the north but with no real plan.
My first stop was on the crest of the hill just south of the Wolf Creek Campground, at 04:22.
SNOWPLOW!! Geez, how’s that for the Murphy’s Laws of parking on the shoulder of the highway? The only vehicle in the Yukon that operates on the shoulder comes along while I’m there.
I was briefly undecided about where to go from there, but decided on the easy choice – back to the east, to the Yukon River Bridge (“the blue bridge”). At 04:40 I had walked across the highway from the rest area and was looking up the Yukon River. A bit of red was starting to appear in the aurora.
Murray in a happy place – on the Alaska Highway, under the Northern Lights.
The aurora pretty much filled the sky, and continued to be very active. The next 2 photos look to the west from the same spot as above, to the bridge and the Lewes River dam.
I hiked up to the viewpoint – the trail hadn’t been used in a long time. The next photo looks up the river again, at 04:51.
A car going across the bridge. I’d like to shoot more traffic, but there’s very little traffic that time of morning. I should go back there at 8-8:30 to get some practice with night traffic (sunrise is at 11:08).
Three photos showing the amount of movement and the variety in patterns in the aurora – these were shot in a 12-minute period starting at 04:57.
Back down at the car again, at 05:12.
A selfie on the road into the rest area. Although I had used my headlamp on the rough trail up to the viewpoint, it wasn’t required here – the aurora provided all the light needed.
Next, here’s one for those of you who like neon-coloured aurora rather than the way Mother Nature sends them 🙂 (with my software this is done with the Vibrance setting)
By 05:22 the aurora had become a river of light across the middle of the sky.
The light from my headlamp changed the colour of the aurora in the next photo.
The final photo, of another car going by, was the last photo I shot this morning, at 05:27. I don’t remember why I headed home – it may just have been time for bed 🙂
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I enjoyed a few posts in the last few weeks on my phone and looked forward to seeing them again (like this aurora one) on a decent home monitor…worth remembering to return, for sure. Always enjoy your enthusiasm, appreciating the extra effort you are making now a days… and looking forward to catching up again to the most recent post.
Good day Murrster, thanks for the wowza pictures of the Northern Lights, all those Japanese newlyweds might have to relocate to Whitehorse instead of Yellowknife, for the magical qualities of the Northern Lights that cement Japanese Love, this could be a new tourist package for those honeymooners perhaps, with a city tour, sled dog outing, Robert Service reading, and a day trip to Skagway, Merry Christmas to you and your clan 🍻🎅
Thanks for all the time and effort to put this together. Loved the pictures.