Oh my, did Lady Aurora dance last night. The Northern Lights display in northern Minnesota was fantastic. I drove north from my home in Duluth to just south of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA). This region was recently designated a Dark Sky Sanctuary by Dark Skies International. While the Aurora Borealis display was seen hundreds and hundreds of miles to my south, being able to view the dance in a truly dark location was awe inspiring. I hope you enjoy my images and videos, all taken last night … what a great birthday present for me!
All photographs taken within the Greenwood Forest Fire Burn Area in the Superior National Forest. You may wish to visit my Northern Lights Viewing and Photography Page. It reviews forecasting tools and camera settings among other things.
Sand River Northern Lights
Looking Southwest! (one should NOT be able to watch the Northern Lights in the southerly direction)
Steve! (a rare Northern Lights Velocity Enhancement)
Safety in Important (may need to maximize this image)
Movies??! (I was able to take Northern Lights videos in real time, not time lapse photography. This is unheard of, and I was not using a super fancy camera … a Sony A6300 set at ISO 3200 with a 16mm lens)(Video links for subscribers: one | two)
A Selfie! (My attempt to take a selfie was quite comical. I was on location with a buddy of mine. While the temperature at sunset was 37F, by 10:30 pm the mercury was falling and would reach 14F. A strong crust of snow was forming, but each time I would scamper out to get in my planned image … often I would suddenly break through the snow that was 4+ feet deep and fall. Steve and I got some good belly laughs out of my ineptness, but I only had 10 seconds before the timed shutter delay would fire).
Assuming you are still with me, make certain you visit my Northern Lights page on this web site. You will find lots of useful information on how to know when to find and view Northern Lights.
You should go back to that burn after good rains and warmer temps, in early June to find black morel mushrooms around the roots of dead spruces. You should be able to come away with 30+ lbs per day.
Stunning!!!! Thanks for sharing.
Well done as always. We had good auroras here last night also.
Don
A sight to behold. So hopeful for tonight as well.
They don’t compare to yours but I got some decent photos. Best I’ve seen here in Northern IA. Many ducks and geese are staging here and they were quacking and honking. I think they were saying they liked the show!
Huge difference in terms of dark skies between Iowa and Northern Minnesota. You did well, but I had way superior light, or lack thereof.
Wishing I was there with you Richard! Thanks for the stunningly gorgeous photographs so that I can live vicariously through you!
Spectacular, thanks for sharing!