Elbow River: Witnessing the Beauty of the Northern Lights
Our sun was exceptionally busy last week. Sunspots hurled increased volumes of solar plasma earthward resulting in an aurora storm that lasted close to a week. We had a few cloudy nights but I was lucky on two outings. This image is from the second trip down to the Elbow River at a bend near my home. It was half past 3 in the morning on the 3rd. The Northern Lights were painting the eastern half of the sky. The lights from Calgary brightened the clouds low on the horizon adding another element to the scene. The most beautiful display of the Aurora Borealis here this year – so far!
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A night whale swimming in the stars
I went out chasing a cold lightning storm with the hounds a couple of nights ago. We watched some strikes from Springbank as the weather raced over Calgary. I was a long ways from the storm so only a few photographs worked out well. It didn’t matter though as the clouds trailing behind looked beautiful against the starry sky.
It was a flight of fancy when I imagined a whale swimming in the sky. A little post production work realized the image in my mind’s eye.
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Aurora Borealis Abstracts
Throughout an amazing Northern Lights display on October 7th and 8th, the sky directly overhead was a nexus point for the ripples and bands of color. I typically compose with foreground landscape elements. This time I photographed straight up repeatedly and they were some of my favorite shots of the night.
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October 8’s Brilliant Aurora: A Celestial Spectacle
The Aurora Borealis rippled under the stars on October 8th. And then again two days later. These photos are from the first storm. Faint green streaks seen from our balcony compelled us out the door.
Heading northwest for darker skies to better enjoy the performance above. The intensity grew quickly, splashing across the starscape in waves from one horizon to the other.
At a few points they faded but never for long. We stayed out for several hours and it was a scintillating show all night. Easily among the very best Northern Lights that I have ever seen. Desiree saw multiple shooting stars as well. I caught a couple but only with my eyes. That was alright with me, I was more than happy to capture the greens, blues and pink.
Their streaks, balls, ribbons and sheets of mesmerized us as they courted and danced with one another in the sky. I was excited waiting for this blast of plasma from the sun to arrive. The resulting storm was pure joy and far beyond my expectations.
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A bright start to a stormy Aurora night
I have been watching the activity on the sun with growing excitement for a few days. Tonight there is a large storm hitting the Earth’s atmosphere with the Northern Lights appearing early. I will head out again in the early morning and see how the Aurora looks then. These photographs were from my neibourhood just after 9pm.
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A Subtle Aurora
At the end of May Desirée, Karen and I chased the Northern Lights late into the night. It was cloudy in Bragg Creek so we headed west looking for open sky and active auroras.
It was not a powerful geomagnetic storm but cast some beautiful pastels in sky and onto the clouds. I’m never disappointed whenever I get to watch to watch them dance.
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A trail of stars in the Okanagan
A set of long exposures taken in Osoyoos in late June this past summer.
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Equinox aurora revisited
Last weekend, I shared one photograph of the Northern Lights from the geomagnetic storm that hit earth in the early morning of the spring equinox. The aurora rippled high into the northern sky for a few hours. Desirée and I watched them for much of that time. Here are a few more images from an incredible night.
After leaving Bragg Creek to see the sunrise at Ghost Lake, the aurora faded into the brightening horizon. This last photograph of the rolling hills north of the lake suggested an echo of the Northern Lights. I’m not sure if they were there still or if it was more my imagination.
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Spring Equinox and the Aurora Borealis
The northern hemisphere’s Spring Equinox was welcomed by an incredible performance by the Northern Lights last night. Desirée and I went out early this morning and watched them dance along high in the sky for hours. It was one of the most beautiful displays that I have seen. It’s made for a slow start in daylight today but was wonderfully worthwhile!
Spaceweather.com has a great article today about auroras and equinoxes which I found really interesting. From their front page, “Around the beginning of spring and fall, cracks open in Earth’s magnetic field–a phenomenon called “the Russell-McPherron effect.” Solar wind pours in to fuel geomagnetic storms.” I didn’t know about that effect – very cool!
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Rolling the moon down a cloud
We caught the first full moon of September on the first day of the month. The clouds spun and stretched across the sky during the moonrise off of the prairie west of Calgary. The moon leaped up quickly daring the clouds to dim her bright light. It was beautiful.
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Neowise on a summer night
Desiree and I went out to photograph the Neowise comet on consecutive nights in late July before its nightly tour over the northern hemisphere ended. It was amazing to see the comet so bright. With longer exposures, the tail flared out behind in a way that I haven’t photographed before. That was beautiful and I’m glad we were out there and could share that together.
The comet was difficult to see with the naked eye. With the camera, and a 6 second exposure, it stood out even against the sparkling sky.
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Aurora Borealis in the Yukon
Last summer we went to Whitehorse to visit my girlfriend’s family. One of the nights, we noticed a few lines of color waving in the sky above our patio. We hopped in the car and drove out of town. Whitehorse is a pretty small city but the urban lights were too bright for the display to stand out. We followed a gravel road up a forested hill to a stony field that opened up.
The moon had not quite set when we set up so the first half an hour had the bright moonlight, illuminated clouds and muted northern lights blending across the night sky’s canvas.
The moon set and the aurora display intensified as well so that the greens, blues and traces of purple rippling above were mesmerizing. We stayed there for a couple of hours. That was my first time to the Yukon and it was wonderful to be able to enjoy the Northern Lights that far north. I hope for the same kind of luck when we visit there next.
