I am lucky enough to have seen the Aurora Borealis aka the Northern Lights several times in my life. The past couple years though have been great for auroral activity. There is a whole science behind when you might see it, with strength, direction, solar wind, etc...yet all that can be for nothing if you have a cloudy sky.
The aurora scale goes from KP 0-9. The higher the number the more intense and further south you will see it. In the late night/early morning of March 23rd-24th, 2023, I got an alert from the Aurora group I follow and it was pants on and camera ready. Nikon battery was dead, rookie mistake. Phone will have to do.
I read later that it was KP8 level event and it felt like I was standing in the middle of a sky that filled with dancing light and shapes. As amazing as some of the photographs out there are, seeing it in person is unlike anything else you will ever experience. I caught another KP8 event a couple years ago but it never fails to mesmerize and enchant and you can't help but be in awe of it as you stare at the ever changing scene.
As a human with lame-ass physical limitations, we aren't able to process all the colours with the naked eye, luckily cameras can do that for us. Something sciencey to do with the rods and cones of your eye. Below are some phone shots from my backyard and just outside town. Definitely not the best photos out there but they still show the majesticalness (honestly I don't even care if that is a proper word...) of the night. To be transparent, to the naked eye, it looked to be varying shades of white, pale green and green to me that night with a hint of purple. However, the camera can pick up pinks, red, and purple.
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| This one formed and was gone then next second so this is the only pic I got. What does it look like to you? |
That last one looks like the Phoenix from the X-Men comics.
ReplyDeleteAmazing shots. The last time I've seen the northern lights, it was quite faded, but that was city lights taking most of it away. Before that, it was in cottage country in Ontario.
That's what I thought too, a phoenix!! Thanks William.
Delete...this is something that I have never seen, neat!
ReplyDeleteIt really is a amazing thing to experience.
DeleteI used to see the Northern Lights all the time when I lived in Manitoba. Even in Winnipeg, you could still catch them late at night when the city lights were at their lowest. But I've never seen them once in the 25 years I've lived further north here in Alberta! The main reason is I'm not out and about late at night anymore. I'm old, lol.
ReplyDeleteThey sure like to show up in the middle of the night! These ones but on a show around 10, then picked back up after midnight.
DeleteWe lived in an isolated community in central Newfoundland and saw the Northern Lights several times over the years. However, they were nothing like the spectacular display you captured. So worth the effort! The last shot looks like a bird to me.
ReplyDeleteI can only imagine what they would be like waaaaay up north!!
DeleteI was fortunate as a child in Saskatchewan to see northern lights many times. It was the normal thing to see them. I missed these .
ReplyDeleteHi Red, that's amazing, all the city dwellers need to get out in the dark!
DeleteWhat a show! Love the majesticality of it!
ReplyDeleteLOL thanks John, they never fail to amaze me with their majesticalness.
DeleteAn amazing sight. We saw some like these when living in Alaska.
ReplyDeleteIt must be a whole other level seeing them that far north!
DeleteI often saw the northern lights where I grew up in southeastern Saskatchewan.
ReplyDeleteThe last shot? Pegasus emerging through the parting sky.
A treat whenever they are visible. Totally some kind of bird in that last image!
DeleteNice!
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