Saturday, August 6, 2011

Aurora Storm!



With all the buzz about the possibility of strong auroras on the night of August 5th/6th, I was disappointed as sunset rolled around to see our sky filled with clouds. I am always optimistic, however, and as the evening progressed I made 2 to 3 checks every hour to see if the sky was clearing. Sure enough, just before midnight, I noticed a break in the clouds and in that break I saw some nice auroras! I went out the door and headed to my favorite spot to photograph the display. For an hour and a half the sky was filled with dancing lights, some of the best I've ever seen in Northern Minnesota!





Above: Here is a view that shows just how strong this geomagnetic storm was. This vantage point of the Spirit Tree is actually looking East/Southeast. Most of the time when shooting the Northern lights at the tree I have to shoot the other profile of it, which is looking to the North. I've always wanted to get a nice strong aurora so I could photograph them behind the tree from this other angle, which is a more Southeasterly direction. Well, on August 6th, 2011 I got my wish!




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