Tag Archives: Northern Lights

BWCA: Dark Sky Sanctuary!

Background, Year 7

Who has not looked up at the night sky and stared in wonder at its beauty and majesty? Unfortunately, most of you have never seen truly dark skies. Here in northeastern Minnesota we are truly blessed, and the International Dark Sky Association has just recognized that fact. The Boundary Waters Canoe Area has just been named the 13th night sky gem in the world by the Association … a location with truly dark skies not affected by human light pollution. Read an article in the Duluth News Tribune written by John Myers about the announcement which features two of my BWCA Northern Lights images, and some other great photos by other folk.

The BWCA is about 60 miles north of my home. Thus, when I want some truly dark skies, in addition to standing out on my own deck, a one hour drive gets me to locations that reminds one of time immemorial. (see Dark Sky Map of North America)

Here are the photographs featured in the newspaper article that I took of the Aurora Borealis at BWCA entry points.

The Pagami Creek Wildfire Area on Island River north of Isabella, Minnesota

Little John Lake at the end of the Arrowhead Trail (a daytime image taken 6 hours earlier at the same exact location is included!)

A map I made showing the photograph locations

A Dark Sky Map of the eastern part of North America

I will be spending a week up in the BWCA at the end of the Gunflint Trail in the very near future!

Finally … one more image. The first two photographs featured in this blog post were taken during one of the most phenomenal nights of my life. The Northern Lights danced all night as I moved from location to location. Two hours before sunrise found me driving south towards home. I was so exhausted that I pulled into a public boat launch 40 miles north of Two Harbors on Greenwood Lake. I got into the back of my Subaru Outback and lay down to catch a few winks. God thought otherwise! As the dawn light appeared in the eastern sky, the Northern Lights exploded once more and were able to overpower the sunrise. Amazing! By far this was the most amazing sunrise I ever watched in my life. I took this selfie.

Aurora Borealis and Meteor Shower Possible Tonight!

Year 6

Normally I do not post in advance about possible celestial displays, but tonight could be a once in a lifetime event (Thursday, November 21st). Around 10:30 pm Central Time there is a fair chance of a combined Northern Lights display and intense meteor shower. Both events are rare; a combination of the two is a unheard of possibility.

Here is an article from the Washington Post speaking to the likelihood of a meteor shower. There could be over 100 meteors in a fifteen minute period … or nothing!

In terms of predicting the Aurora Borealis, use this service from NASA & NOAA named Ovation Aurora. I have annotated a screenshot I took this morning as an example.

  • Learn more about camera settings, good locations, etc via my Northern Lights page.
  • Boulder Lake is an excellent viewing location near Duluth. A map and other instructions may be found upon my Northern Lights page.
  • I would be in place at your preferred location by 10:15 pm Central Time, or earlier depending upon the Aurora numbers. Skies are forecast to clear in NE Minnesota this evening, and the moon will not be above the horizon … thus dark, clear skies should be the name of the game!