Alaska #8: Denali Aurora Borealis

The most amazing night

I talked about our DAYS in Denali National Park and Preserve. Now, I would like to talk about one NIGHT there.

The primary reason we like to go to Alaska at the end of the season (well, in addition to smaller crowds and less mosquitoes) is that there is enough dark to see the Aurora Borealis (AKA Northern Lights) if it should appear.

Starting before the sun even sets

Scott taught me how to shoot Aurora (and bought me a decent lens for doing so). 

You need a fast wide-angle lens. Mine is a 20mm F2.8. 

You must switch your lens to manual focus (it will not work if it tries to autofocus) and then pre-focus it on almost infinity and tape it in place with gaffer's tape so you won't accidentally move it. 

Then, you set the camera on manual and set it up on a tripod with a remote switch (this is a long exposure; you want to minimize shake). 

ISO and shutter speed depend on how bright the lights are and how dark the sky is. I shot most of mine at 8-15 seconds on ISO 400-500. 

Because you are shooting in the dark, you need to turn the illumination on your view screen down or else the screen will blind you (and annoy any other photographers).

Much brighter on the screen

If it looks good on your camera screen, it is probably underexposed. Then, you must bump up the ISO or increase the exposure until it looks too bright, but still has definition. Later, you can fix issues -- exposure, color, clarity, grain -- with Photo, Lightroom, Photoshop or Topaz AI. 

My camera tends to shoot on the red side, so I had to adjust my photos to make the sky as blue as it really was.

Aurora is caused by collisions among electrically charged gaseous particles from the sun that enter Earth's atmosphere, blown here by solar winds. The charged particles are largely deflected by Earth's magnetic field, but, because Earth's magnetic field is weaker at the poles, some particles enter the atmosphere and collide with gas particles. These collisions emit light that we perceive as the dancing lights of the north (Aurora Borealis) and the south (Aurora Australis).

Auroral displays appear in many colors with pale green and pink the most common.

Spikes

Green is produced by oxygen molecules about 60 miles above the earth. Red Auroras are produced by oxygen at heights of up to 200 miles. Nitrogen produces blue or purplish-red aurora. The lights of the Aurora generally extend from 50 miles to as high as 400 miles above Earth. 

The lights appear in many forms from patches or scattered clouds of light to streamers, arcs, rippling curtains or shooting rays that light up the sky with an eerie glow.

And, to see the Aurora, you have to have dark sky. Weak Aurora can be seen only on a Moonless night far from any ambient light. Stronger Aurora can be seen even when there is Moonlight, ambient light or even lingering sunset. Regardless, it is such a rare treat because it depends on so many factors -- solar activity, dark, clear skies.

As I talked about before, we stayed three nights in Fairbanks hoping to see the Aurora and only got a display for a short time one night during sunset. 

Fairbanks, Alaska

Then, we were in Bettles, which is known as a good site for Aurora, but the weather was consistently cloudy and rainy, so we saw none.

Bettles, Alaska

When we went back to Denali, we were hoping we might have a clear night AND some Aurora. And, we did. Boy did we.

A most magical sunset

Knowing there was a strong Aurora forecast, per Spaceweather.com, and seeing that the sky was still clear after our glorious day in the Park ...

A bright day in Denali

... we packed up all our gear in the car and headed to the Park, planning to get there before sunset and set up the tripods in one of the turnouts in the Moose rut area (hoping, of course, that no Moose would decide to investigate what we were doing).

It was still early twilight when we got to the Park and, before we even stopped, the display began ...

The first wisps

It was spectacular ...

Swirls

One of the most incredible I have ever seen.

Ribbons

It was different than a good display we saw in Soldotna in 2015, which filled the whole sky ...

Soldotna, Alaska, 2015

 It wasn't as bright as a wintertime display I saw in Fairbanks in 2012 ...

Fairbanks, Alaska, 2012

It didn't have as many huge swirls as a display Caty and I saw in Iceland in 2015 ...

Búðir, Iceland, 2015

Nor, did it have the cool foreground that Scott and I saw when we took photos at the Jökulsárlón glacial lagoon, also in Iceland ...

Jökulsárlón, Iceland, 2017

But, it had more variety of shapes and colors than what I had seen before. 

This was amazing

And, it lasted a long time.

Denali at its finest (and it wasn't even cold)

The first hints were opposite the setting sun, towards the south. This is a bit odd for us, because we are used to looking north for the NORTHERN Lights. But, the closer you get to the poles, the less that matters.

We always look for full dark, but a good display can be seen when there is still some daylight

And, it certainly didn't matter this evening. Soon, it was spreading across the horizon ...

I have soooooo many photos

Then, it was directly above us, with radiating bands and a pulsing center ...

I call this "The Eye of God"

Then, it was 360 degrees -- everywhere you looked. We stayed for a long time, taking pictures as fast as we could.

Low and high lights

Then, as it started to dim, we decided to go home. We were, after all, pretty tired. 

But, while we were still in the Park, it started up again. So, we stopped in the parking lot of the sled dog kennels and took more pictures. 

Big swirls

It even continued as the Moon rose over the horizon. 

Moonrise

The Moon dimmed the sky enough that we figured we had gotten the best we were going to get and we went back to our cabin. I suspect it raged all night.

I have written about the Aurora Borealis before. The pictures in that post don't hold a candle to these.

One of the things that surprised us while photographing the Aurora was how few people we encountered who were shooting -- or even watching -- it. My guess is that most of the tourists were snug in their beds, not aware of the show they were missing. That's sad.

Promise me, if you go to Alaska, you'll try to see the Aurora Borealis.

Wow!

Trip date: August 17-September 4, 2018