Aurora Borealis, Sept 2011

oh wow GT this is amazing!!! takes your breath away.

the stuff of dreams.

thank you for putting this on.

This is one of those rare times I can stand in my late fall garden and watch the lights. Usually it is winter and cold. This north band is relatively common, while a stream over head or to the south will generally cover the whole sky with banks of red or green. That is a big show. You can almost hear them moving, in the silence, like a humming. I always try to get a few shots to post every year.

it is definitely phenomenal!

beyond my comprehension but i wish we had them here. northern scotland sometimes see it i believe.

how fascinating to watch and record the different patterns. are there traditions associated with seeing the lights? do they hold festivals or anything?

Oh I would Love, love ,love to see this.......Thank you GreenThumb

me too pimpernel

Its very beautiful. Thank you for the comments.

Sticki, it is still too mysterious to plan any events around it, though most will give some silence when it appears. It is a vital part of the native mythologies in the area, creation story and other fables. A light in the long dark with raven, active all winter.

that is both fascinating and awesome. the silence seems appropriate!
im just so grateful we have people on here that can show us these amazing things. thank you again

Oh my!

I'd love to witness this, but it involves cold........

and a long journey.....

and the Cold as mentioned

The journey I can deal with, although northern Scandinavia or Iceland is closer. But not the cold!

i can do the cold [in nice snuggly clothes] but dont fancy the flying ~ or sailing

Iceland would be a great destination.

or shetland and then there would be the up hellya festival!!

lucky you GT having these to watch :o)

That's a really good shot, Gt! I've tried to get pics of the Aurora borealis with less than good results! Congrats!

In the spring and fall, when the cold hasn't set in, the night has already returned. It wasn't even frosting at night yet when I took this. It is just hard to be there when they are active.

Thank you San. ;-)

Lori, I have worked years to get a shot like this. And the rare instance of this strong active stream over the cabin. Now that I have my old camera figured out, I have a new one to figure out! A tripod is required to get a long enough exposure to pick it up.

just noticed that by your caption you are a year ahead! don't you mean Sept 2011? I have a tripod now and my present camera has a manual shutter speed adjustment...but I'm still getting used to the things it will do and haven't tried night photog yet. (Pardon...I took a shot of the moon...last summer!..I was learning the camera and tried an experiment ...the result wasn't the best but I found out I could make manual settings.LOL..)

Thank you Lori. Mistype is now corrected. :-) I use automatic night setting on my little point and shoot. That was the camera that took this. High ISO for a long shutter is required for northern lights. Professional type shots up here are usually exposed for 20 to 30 seconds. My auto setting shoots about 8-10 seconds, but enough that my photoshop can auto correct the shot to this quality. My new camera I still have to find the Fstop and ISO for them but it has a smart mode that should find them that I can observe.

sometimes you can google your camera make and you can find all sorts of tips, meanie found lots for me too ~ very helpful.

To get some advance warning of when to expect the "Northern Lights" to appear you could go to: spaceweather.com. They often advise on when these lights can be expected as well as publish people's photos. I visit the site every couple of days. Not for the Lights! LOL! Often for Solar Flares or some comet that is passing close to the sun or about to be broken up by the sun when it gets too close. I was reading about a comet about to break up just today!

Thank you Sticki.

Balcony, that sounds like a very interesting resource to look into. Here they are so close they often have to be flowing right over your direct location to see them. But a little heads up and I could wait it out from a better view position when they come over. The art of shooting the lights is a well known process here. Just not common due to the cold.

Of course I forgot! You live in Alaska & the Lights must be a common sight to you! I've seen lots of photos & I've seen them on TV now I only have to see them for myself!

That comet I mentioned earlier is about to break up, it may even be today. I was on the site a few hours ago.

Wonderful gt. They must be difficult to photograph.
I once saw orange northern lights in Quebec, but they weren't spectacular.

Thank you. It took a few years to learn how to really get it with my point and shoot. But it occurs enoug I've gotten lots of practice.