Even More Aurora!

(by Leslie)

You may have read that there was a significant solar storm last week, which resulted in some pretty spectacular auroras in the northern latitudes. Unless you were too far north, that is. Because here in Fairbanks we only have about one hour of darkness these days—or I should say twilight, since it doesn’t really get completely dark anymore. As a result, though I stayed up from midnight to three the night of the solar activity (watching the first season of Julia Child’s The French Chef to pass the time), I saw nary a glow.

But even though the aurora season is now over in Fairbanks, don’t feel too sorry for us, because it’s been a terrific aurora season. Since I last posted any northern lights photos, we’ve have several more magnificent displays.

The first of three memorable nights I will recount happened when our friends Val and Trish were visiting. We knew it was going to be a good viewing night, because we saw the first aurora at only nine o’clock, while still at the Ice Park.

By about ten-thirty the lights were going big-time:

 from our back deck

It was cold—about 10 degrees F—and Val, who lives in New Orleans, kept having to dash back inside to warm up. But when a display unleashed itself directly overhead, Robin and I screamed: “Come out now!” It filled the sky:

We all rushed out to the front yard. “Is that red?” we wondered. Green is the most common color, and red—though not terribly unusual—is a treat to get to see. (Click here for a concise explanation why the aurora comes in different colors.) It was indeed red:

And then came the double rainbow of red, white and green. Wow.

Robin and I have had several groups of people come visit from the Outside, all of whom were coming primarily in the hopes of seeing the northern lights. (Yes, they wanted to see us too, but c’mon—we all know the aurora was the big draw). We were therefore quite nervous about their chances of seeing the lights. After all, it was two weeks after we arrived before we saw any. Clouds and lack of activity are always a possibility, so if you’re only here for a few days you could miss out altogether.

So when the last group left—my sister Laura and her husband Doug—we breathed a huge sigh of relief. All three groups had gotten to see some pretty good activity.

Laura and Doug were treated to the best show—two nights’ worth. We drove out to a spot we’d scoped in advance along a road near our house which has a good, northern-facing vista. The lights were out in force, streaming across the sky:

 photo by Laura Karst

Here’s another shot by Laura:

In addition to the curtains, we got to see what I like to call “sprites,” darting this way and that about the heavens:

Here’s a shot of me, with my camera set up on a tripod (these photos were mostly all 15-second exposures):

 photo by Laura Karst

(tweaked by Leslie)

I’ve save the best for last. When folks talk about the aurora “curtaining,” this is what they mean:

 photo by Laura Karst

If you’d like to watch a video explaining the aurora borealis, click here.

And if you’re planning on being somewhere where the lights are visible (e.g., northern lower-48, Canada, Alaska, northern Europe), here are a few websites that we used to assist in our aurora-hunting.

First is the Aurora Borealis Notifications Facebook page, which posts updates on activity, as well as photos from friends of the page. The two gals that run the page are amazing, and it doesn’t seem like they get any sleep throughout the winter.

In addition, there are two websites showing maps of current aurora activity. The NOAA  Aurora Activity Extrapolation site shows the extent and position of the “aurora oval” over both poles. And the UAF Geophysical Institute’s Aurora Forecast page shows a similar map, along with a forecast of how active the aurora is expected to be. (You can click on different maps to see activity at different parts of the polar region.)

Finally, for those in the Fairbanks region, the Aurora Live webcam is invaluable. Robin spent many an hour this last February and March staying up till the wee hours working on her laptop and monitoring this webcam.

If you’ve never seen the aurora borealis, is should definitely be on your bucket list!