An incredible night of aurora borealis

Posted On November 4, 2021

I’ve just come in from one of the most amazing aurora shows I’ve ever seen, and after dying down, it’s ramping up again as I write this. There are photos being posted from all over Canada, so a whole lot of people are getting to experience this one.

Although the aurora forecast was good for tonight, I’ve gotten pretty jaded about them – I’ve gotten skunked on much stronger forecasts than this.

I went to bed just after 10:00 but couldn’t sleep so got up again. I noticed posts in my Aurora Alert Yukon group on Facebook that a weak display had begun about 11:00, so went out a few times to keep an eye on it. At 11:20 it was obvious this was going to be worth photographing, so I got my gear together – a Canon EOS 7D with a Rokinon 10mm lens mounted on a Slik tripod.

At 11:32 I began shooting in my driveway – 30-second exposures at ISO 800. I set a 2-second shutter delay to avoid any shake from pressing that button. Whoops, missed the focus on the first half-dozen.

My back yard is better – no wires and darker. The aurora had gotten brighter so the next image was shot at 15 seconds and ISO 800.

Looking in the opposite direction the lights were much dimmer so I was back to 30-second exposures.

The last image I’ll show you from the back yard was shot among the trees looking almost straight up, at 20 seconds.

It now seemed like a safe bet that this display was going to be worth driving to a better location. With the display also showing to the south, the “blue bridge” that takes the Alaska Highway across the Yukon River 15 km away should be perfect. I was in such a hurry, and didn’t want to disturb Cathy and the dogs, I just went in my pyjamas – I didn’t even have a phone or wallet 🙂

I parked at the rest area at the bridge, and began by shooting towards what is commonly called the Lewes River Dam. The odd colour to the left is caused by the lights of Whitehorse. It was now 5 minutes after midnight.

The photo above was shot at 20 seconds, but is too bright. The next one was shot at 10 seconds – much better. Many photographers play with their aurora photos to make them more dramatic, brighter, and/ore more colourful, but I try to ensure that what I post is as close as possible to what I actually saw.

Looking the opposite direction, the structure of the bridge made an interesting contrast to the flow of the aurora.

Next, I drove a couple of hundred yards/meters back to the highway – the next photo was shot from the shoulder of the road, looking up the Yukon River, with a car approaching in the distance.

Looking the opposite direction, to the bridge and dam. I was still shooting 10-second exposures.

The temperature here was -6°C / 21°F – a lovely temperature to experience the aurora at! Having open water for the reflections make photography more fun as well.

The rapidly-changing shapes were wonderful, as was seeing lots of reds now.

There was a lot of motion in the aurora, and the light was bright enough to drop down to 6-second exposures to “freeze” it better.

I tried to light up the bridge with my headlamp but it’s not bright enough. I need a new, better one.

I was shooting pretty much constantly as the patterns changed. The next are were still at 6 seconds, ISO 800.

The next two were shot with 15-second exposures and ISO 320. The second one has a semi coming along the Alaska Highway, which is what I had switched to the longer exposures for.

There were occasional great blasts of red in the aurora – this one was at midnight:30. I was back to 6 seconds, ISO 800.

The next photo was shot by laying the camera on the ground on its back, so looking straight up.

A car going by on the Alaska Highway. The bright bands were starting to disappear now, though most of the sky was still full of aurora.

Moving closer to the bridge, a distant car gave it just enough light to show some details.

The lights of a semi changed the way the camera saw the aurora colors.

At midnight:36 I started for home, making a brief stop to shoot a couple more photos high above the river. The aurora then quickly faded.

It’s now 04:00 – Lady Aurora is still dancing, but I’m going to bed. If you’d like to see hundreds more aurora photos, I invite you to visit my other aurora group, The Aurora Borealis in Canada’s Yukon.