A long overdue night of aurora photography
Although we’ve been seeing good displays of aurora borealis since early August, last night was the first time I’ve been out for long enough with a good enough display to tell you about it here. Last night was actually the third very good night in a row but it was the first time I got out (there’s a lot going on).
A friend sent me a message at 8:20 alerting me to forecasts of another good night. When I looked outside, a band was visible directly overhead in the sky that wasn’t even dark yet. A few minutes later, a large brilliant band of aurora exploded! It only lasted a couple of minutes but got me scambling to get my gear together.
I shot the first photo from the back deck at 8:49 just as a record – I knew I had to drive to a better viewing spot.
I was soon headed out the door – I told Cathy I’d be home at sunrise, which the forecast made seem likely. By 9:15 I was shooting in the Copper Belt mining area, at a high spot that gave me an almost unobstructed 360-degree view. The first photo I’ll show you from that spot was shot at 9:23. There was good motion and colour in the display – yes, this could be an all-nighter 🙂
Swinging the camera a bit to the left got me even better colour 5 minutes later.
Two more photos in the original direction, at 9:36 and 9:38. The twin red lights seen in these photos are on the communications tower on Grey Mountain.
My plan had always included some time at the lake that now fills the old Black Cub South copper mining pit, and the next photo was shot there at 9:46.
Results at the lake weren’t what I was hoping for – I think the aurora needs to be higher in the sky for reflections to work there. I shot a selfie to try to add some interest.
I drove around to the south side of the lake and shot a few images there in two different places, one high and one down on the shore. It was now 10:02.
I went back to my original spot and shot there for a few minutes – the next two photos were both shot a few seconds apart at 10:17.
Next I drove a few miles northwest to the highest point on the old copper mining Haul Road. It was now 10:30, and a cold south wind was getting stronger. Without the wind, the +5°C temperature was very nice to be shooting in.
Two minutes later. Having this much motion in the aurora makes shooting a lot more fun 🙂
Looking the other direction (to the northwest) 3 minutes later.
By 10:44 I had driven closer to Whitehorse, and from this high point the lights of the Alaska Highway could be seen below.
The aurora then went flat. I got the munchies, so started driving more or less toward McDonald’s 🙂 As I was on the Alaska Highway almost at the turnoff to Miles Canyon, the sky exploded in colour again, so I raced down to a viewpoint over the Yukon River at the head of the canyon. It was now 11:23.
Looking in the opposite direction a minute later.
I had just started driving away from that spot when I noticed this perfect framing, so stopped and took a few shots here.
From there the obvious next photography spot is the main viewpoint over Miles Canyon, though it was a safe bet there would be other people there, which I avoid whenever possible. There was one car, running with its lights on, and another soon joined us. But the sky again exploded (sorry I keep using that term, but no other word seems to describe what happens), so I braved the wind at this very exposed location and shot for a few minutes. The next photo was shot at 11:35.
The aurora was so bright and moving so fast that I boosted the ISO to 1000 with a 5-second exposure.
Although the colours weren’t as good as earlier, this was the best shooting of the night because of the incredible action of the display – it would have been a superb time to shot a video (which I’ve never tried). In 6 minutes I shot 20 photos, including the next 3 🙂
And then, as suddenly as it had started, this display ended. Continuing my drive to McDonald’s, I stopped at 3 other places to see if the lights had returned, but no luck. I bought a Big Mac meal and took it up to The Horse to eat – if the aurora returned it has great potential for shooting. But, no aurora and the wind got much stronger. I shot the next photo as I was heading home at 12:25.
When I got home, the airport was recording winds south at 27 km/h. That’s simply not fun to shoot in, even if the aurora hadn’t gone flat.
As I was writing this post, my Aurora Alert page prompted me to look outside. I took a shot of a weak display just as a record, but seconds later, this band exploded, right at 06:30. It only lasted a couple of minutes – timing is everything.
Well, that was a much shorter night than I had expected, but the photography was excellent, so no complaints 🙂
The aurora forecast for tonight is showing another good show, though not quite as good. The forecasts are getting less and less accurate, though, so we’ll just see what happens.
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Beautiful!!