I finally caught the Aurora Borealis after many months of following Aurora Watch and checking alerts, waiting for the right opportunity. March 23rd was a perfect night. Not only was the chance of seeing northern lights over 90% it was also forecast to be a warm night. Around 11 p.m. we headed out to Elk Island National Park. The sky was partially overcast when we left the city, but opened up once we arrived. A thousand or so other people had the same idea. I’ve never seen that many cars in the park even on a warm summer day.
It wasn’t long before the sky was dancing in every direction. We’d found ourselves right underneath the show. The colours and the structure were incredible. Reds, greens and whites – the colours were something to see.
What a vivid demonstration of Earth’s magnetic field interacting with charged particles from the sun. Auroras are relatively dim and the redder light is often at the limit of what the human eye can see. Cameras, though, can pick up some spectacular shots. These were taken on my iPhone without a tripod or long-exposure setting. I love the result, but would definitely get the tripod set up next time. And I’d try to find a quieter, less busy spot!
