We left the hotel at 10:30 pm Thursday night, driving half an hour to the viewing site. There is a vast field with a hill to one side and trees in the distance, with a wide open space looking north.
There is a warming “hut” at the viewing site though “hut” rather understates its amenities. It is heated with coffee, tea, hot chocolate and snacks. Plenty of space for all of us to spread out our kit and get ready to head out – camera, tripod, cable release, WARM CLOTHES! It was indeed a bit chilly to be standing around outside for three hours. The photo in the banner at the top of this post is the warming hut.
The aurora borealis started to appear just after midnight in an otherwise clear starry sky. It started with a smudge on the horizon, then grew and took on many different shapes. At one point, the lights formed a long, clearly defined arc. At another they looked like a wave heading from one side of the sky to another. And occasionally a little bit of pink found its way into the lights as well.
I was surprised how clearly the lights showed up in my photos as they were not so apparent to the naked eye. I used long exposures – 20-25 seconds – and wide open apertures – f/3.5 mm on my 18 mm wide angle lens. I have processed the photos below but not to brighten them. In fact I have decreased the saturation a bit as they appeared too bright in the photos to be true.
This is a panoramic photo I have pieced together as my wide angle lens was not wide enough to capture the entire view in one shot.
This is my favourite photo. I love the wisps that point up, so delicate and fleeting. I was happy to capture them.
We headed back to the hotel at 2:30 am, in bed shortly after 3:00 to prepare for a 10:30 am excursion into the Yukon countryside. As my friend Mary noted, sleeping is over-rated!
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