The aurora was going crazy last night/this morning. These light shows are often much more fleeting than this one. We watched in fascination for hours last night. If we hadn’t been awake most of the previous night with storms, we probably would have seen the aurora fade into the dawn. Or the clouds.
Most of these were taken from my driveway, but the rest were taken from Torch Lake. They have barely been edited; you’ll notice they haven’t been cropped even. I wanted to give you the chance to click through quickly so that you get an idea of what it’s like if you’ve never seen it in person. Sorry for moving the camera to so many different places; I just kind of never know where exactly to aim, since the northern lights move, and each photo is a 30-second exposure. Regardless, enjoy!
If you’re interested and you missed it, there are a couple of larger versions on my previous blog.
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This is awesome, Heather. Thanks for sharing them. I live in the deep south, really deep, on a peninsula called Florida. Doubt I’ll ever get to see those in person, but you never know.
I used to live in the deep south on that same peninsula 😉 (When your comment showed up on my wordpress dashboard, everything after “called” was truncated. I was seriously looking forward to learn which peninsula, so when you said “Florida” it got a good chuckle out of me!)
My parents have seen them in Ohio, and I think some people in Georgia even reported seeing them so perhaps Florida’s not out of the question. But I do wonder how telecommunications will hold up if the electromagnetic activity is strong enough. Perhaps you can get a lucky break on a vacation up north 😉
Hey Heather, I’m originally from Chicago and my family is still there. I travel there at least once a year. Grew up there. Never saw the lights though. Loved seeing your photos.
Since we’ve been up here, we’ve traveled all around this area, and hit the high spots in the UP from the Porcupines to Sault Ste Marie, but do you know that we’ve only been to Chicago in the airport? One of these days we’ll get down there!
I was fast asleep and am so bummed…nice job!
I’m sorry you missed it, Diane. Tony and I are late night kind of people, and I’ve sent text messages to my neighbor before alerting him. He has always gotten the messages too late to do him any good, but last night (this morning?) at 2:15 I called him and left a message. He must’ve woken when the phone rang though, because he soon texted, and was outside enjoying the show.
There’s been low-level electromagnetic storming all day, but I think there might be too much cloud cover tonight 😦
Ever the optimist…I’m staying up just in case! Don’t have your camera skills, but have my charged up anyway. Would love to share your blog with some friends but not sure yet the easiest way to do that…can I do it with wordpress or is it easier to just email them the link?
You should check out some of my early blogs – I didn’t used to have camera skills 😉
As far as sharing my blog, first: thank you! Next: it depends on how you interact with them online. If they’re Facebook friends, you can use the little FB share button at the bottom of the post. If they follow your blog, you can just use the wordpress button at the bottom and you’re welcome to reblog it on your blog. And you can of course just email them the link.
Hopefully we get more lights tonight. Either way, I already had my ice cream on Torch, so I’m a happy girl!
WOW. I lived in the UP for 6 years and never saw this. I’m so glad you’ve shown them to all of us. Flicking through the slide show was sort of like seeing it live!
We get text alerts from Soft Serve News; otherwise, we’d likely miss it most of the time too. They send out messages every time the activity level starts to ramp up, and then as it continues to change so we know whether to go looking or not.
Your comment makes me so happy I decided to fight with wordpress (I had to export those photos three different times from Lightroom and upload them to WP twice, plus move some of them around) to get the slideshow to work. I thought it looked cool when I flicked through them on my camera, and I’m glad you agree 🙂
PS – Is it cold down there today too? It was mid-70s yesterday and 42 now!
Have lived in the U.P. every summer since childhood, many moons ago. Have seen the Aurora maybe a handful of times, they are indeed outstanding. My hubby is the only one of us, that has never seen them in person. Poor guy. Your slideshow is great!
Pass my condolences along to your husband, Chris 😉
Thanks for your comment – I’m glad you enjoyed the slideshow!
Heather…simply stunning iamges in this post and the previous one.
Thank you Edith. We are always in awe.
*clicks ‘next’ repeatedly on slideshow like mesmerized zombie*
Perfect 🙂
Stunning, my son went on a school trip to Iceland earlier this (from the UK) and saw them I was very envious. They are occasionally seen further north in the UK. (sorry about the length of the link!
http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/paulhudson/TANHILL.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/paulhudson/2012/01/will-we-see-the-northern-light.shtml&h=454&w=595&sz=199&tbnid=MbXWdilFQqGNJM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=118&zoom=1&usg=__1SAViETVGRL1w-RiqQJqT5dQwSk=&docid=xkgHgSieYJSIwM&sa=X&ei=7e-sUaS2C6Kg0wW75YGwDQ&ved=0CFAQ9QEwBA&dur=4338
There was a solar storm in 2011, before I was really able to use a camera. It is the only one that rivals the other night’s show, and I just *wish* I had been able to capture some images. Guess there’s always something to be envious of. (Cool pub shot you shared, by the way!)
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Thanks for sharing your pictures. Seeing the aurora (live and in person) someday is on my bucket list! I’ve tried down in Milwaukee on a few of the very high days but never seen anything and expect I’ll need to head north.
Thanks for the comment! Knowing that other people enjoy the opportunity to view the aurora vicariously is why I post 🙂 So glad you enjoyed!
My husband (somehow, don’t remember how now) signed up for text alerts through soft serve news. They post when then the electromagnetic energy level is ramping up. We generally start checking the night sky at just over 5kp, but thanks to SSN, we’ve seen so many solar storms I can hardly contain myself 😉
I’ve heard of the Northern Lights and your photos are spectacular. I can imagine how brilliant it would be to see the sky lit up this way in person, it must be breathtaking! (Wandered over here from Kathy’s blog, by the way, and glad I did. 🙂 )
Kathy is a sweetheart 🙂
The Northern Lights are awe-inspiring. They feel *so big* when you are under them. However, the sky does not actually look like the photos…but I do think the photos encompass the feeling. When you’re there in person, your brain processes a “new” image about every 1/60th of a second…and these photos gather light for 30 seconds. I’d hate for someone to see the aurora in person and be disappointed 😉
Thanks for dropping by and leaving the note!
I just keep looking at these over & over because 1. They are beautiful 2. it has been 12 days since you posted another blog!
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Breathtaking!
It’s a beautiful world!