Ever wonder what an Aurora looks like against a forest fire burned out background?! I wondered also and drove up to the Greenwood Forest Fire Burn Area last night (27,000 acres). This is actually the Sand River (45 miles north of Two Harbors). At this specific location as one looks up the river, lots of the smaller trees burned out, and some of the pines. Amazingly right next to burned out pines there will be sections of untouched trees. One other interesting fact on the night of November 3rd, the backwaters of the river were iced over and there was about one inch of snow on the ground (temperature was 19F).
Camera settings: ISO 3200, Aperture 2.2, Exposure 6 seconds (Sony a6300)
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This second image is what the sky looked like as I waited and hoped Lady Aurora would come out and dance. Notice the Big Dipper waiting to get filled (it did). You may need to maximize these images to get the full effect.
This final photograph was taken about 11:15 pm at Greenwood Lake (40 miles north of Two Harbors … just out of the burn area). Although my drive between locations was only 8 minutes, I about had a cow when I pulled into the public access.
Sub-Storm! This is what I actually was seeing with my naked eye. The Aurora filled the sky up to the zenith.
Camera settings: ISO 3200; Aperture 2.2; Exposure 4 seconds (Sony a6300)
