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 Northern Lights over my home south of Whitehorse

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 aurora borealis over my home south of Whitehorse

The aurora borealis over my home south of Whitehorse

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.

The aurora borealis over my home south of Whitehorse

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 🙂

The Northern Lights over my home south of Whitehorse

The aurora borealis over my home south of Whitehorse

The Northern Lights over my home south of Whitehorse

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 aurora borealis over my home south of Whitehorse

The next photo was shot looking almost straight up at 04:36, which seems to have been about the peak of the show.

The aurora borealis over my home south of Whitehorse

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).

The aurora borealis at Mary Lake, south of Whitehorse

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 Northern Lights over my home south of Whitehorse

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.

The Northern Lights over my home south of Whitehorse

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.

The Northern Lights over my home south of Whitehorse

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.

The Northern Lights over my home south of Whitehorse

My first stop was on the crest of the hill just south of the Wolf Creek Campground, at 04:22.

The Northern Lights over the Alaska Highway south of Whitehorse

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.

The aurora borealis over the Alaska Highway and Yukon River south of Whitehorse

Murray in a happy place – on the Alaska Highway, under the Northern Lights.

The aurora borealis over the Alaska Highway south of Whitehorse

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.

The Northern Lights over the Yukon River Bridge south of Whitehorse

The Northern Lights over the Yukon River south of Whitehorse

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.

The Northern Lights over the Yukon River south of Whitehorse

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).

The aurora borealis over the Yukon River Dam on the Alaska Highway south of Whitehorse

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.

The Northern Lights over the Yukon River south of Whitehorse

The Northern Lights over the Yukon River south of Whitehorse

The Northern Lights over the Yukon River south of Whitehorse

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)

The aurora borealis over the Alaska Highway south of Whitehorse

By 05:22 the aurora had become a river of light across the middle of the sky.

The aurora borealis south of Whitehorse

The light from my headlamp changed the colour of the aurora in the next photo.

The aurora borealis over the Alaska Highway south of Whitehorse

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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