Chasing The Northern Lights

I spent last week at our cabin in the Upper Peninsula.  On Monday night, the Northern Lights erupted in a spectacular show.  I had to wait patiently for a few breaks in the clouds around midnight to capture photos of the colorful skies.  I had only a window of about an hour to photograph the aurorae before the thick clouds rolled in for the rest of the night.

Tuesday night was far clearer, but the Lights were only a dim flicker low on the northern horizon.  At the bottom of this page you can watch a short video of the progression of the stars through the night sky from Tuesday night.  If you are watching it in a dark enough setting, you will be able to see the Northern Lights near the bottom of the screen along the tree silhouettes.   You will also see little bright green flashes, which are the lightning bugs flying in front of the lens.  Make sure to click the little gear on the lower right corner of the viewer to increase the resolution of the video.

Constellations & Northern Lights

I was looking through my photos I took of the Northern Lights last week and remembered a couple that I shot with my fisheye lens.  I was not happy with these as they were not as sharply focused as I would have liked.  However, this one actually turned out pretty well.  What I like about it is that it has several constellations in it: Ursa Major (Big Dipper), Ursa Minor (Little Dipper), Cassiopeia, a bit of Perseus, Cepheus, and Draco, and my favorite, albeit faint because of the lighter sky, Camelopardalis (Giraffe).

Northern Lights Star Trails

I shot two star trail sequences last weekend at the cabin.  The one on Friday night captured the very weak Northern Lights glowing red and green on the horizon.  The two photos below show the how dark the sky was and how bright the Northern Lights were.  At the very bottom of the page is a short video of the star motion through the sky and the Northern Lights dancing on the horizon.

A Chance Northern Lights Sighting Tonight

I happened upon the Northern Lights tonight.  I really need to figure out how to photograph them better, as there is so much "noise" in these photos.  Regardless, I was happy to see them again.