Aurora over Regina - St. Patrick's Day Geomagnetic Storm

One advantage of living at the north end of a small prairie city like Regina, SK, is that light pollution—while intense, even here—doesn't always block the aurora. Dims it, yes, but when there is a good show, I can often see it from my backyard. Unless the clouds move in, as they did tonight...

Low and faint Aurora Borealis over my garage roof. The small W-shaped constellation in the middle
above the tree left of the garage is Lacerta, the lizard, also called Little Cassiopeia.  

This show was forecast to be intense, and was far brighter before I set up the camera. Before, there was a bright green arc in the north; after, only a few flickers of light. 

It will likely be brighter later—and would certainly be more magnificent out of the city! But the Northern Lights always come in waves, and tonight the clouds and my fatigue have won. 

What is this? The Aurora 
Location: Backyard, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada  
Photo date: March 17/18, 2015.

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Northern Lights over Muenster, Saskatchewan

Aurora Borealis after midnight   © SB

When I came back to my room after midnight, I looked out to discover there were Northern Lights.

Most of the others were sleeping, but in the morning, I learned of those who'd never seen the solar winds dance.

They insisted I wake them if we're ever together when I see the Aurora again...

They want to watch the lights crawl from the horizon, pour from the zenith, shape-shift from harp strings to curtains to frogs and a pair of high kicking Can-Can dancers legs.

As I do... And I will... (And I hope they don't mind the 2 a.m. knock on the door, when it comes. At least that way, though, I'll have company to go light-seeking outside, instead of taking pictures through my bedroom window!)

Often, the Aurora follow solar flares, but for the February display, this was the oh-so-poetic cause: 

Magnetic fields in the interplanetary medium have tipped south, opening a crack in Earth's defenses against the solar wind. (SpaceWeather.com)

 What amazing light flows when defences are down!

Swirls of green and pink Northern Lights across the Eastern Sky. (Yes, I should have gone outside to look
to the North, but it was very late, very dark, very cold, and I was alone.) © SB

Ribbons and curtains of Northern Lights,seen from St. Peter's Abbey, Muenster, SK.  © SB

What are these? Aurora Borealis, the Northern Lights.  

Location: St. Peter's Abbey, Muenster, Saskatchewan
Photo dates: February 19, 2014. 

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Northern Lights above Regina, SK: October 1, 2013

Looking south at Regina's orange tungsten glow,
 past grain bins and a field...
with Aurora Borealis sheeting through the sky above. © SB 

Yes, you can see Northern Lights in Regina! Links within this story go to other Aurora Borealis photos taken in Saskatchewan. 

The winter 2013-14 Aurora Borealis season began in Regina, Saskatchewan with a stunning display late evening on October 1, with northern lights arcing across the entire bowl of the sky... Lights so bright we stood in awe in the backyard to watch...

And then we realized we'd see these Northern Lights even better outside of town, beyond the orange glare of tungsten street lights. But it was late, and among us in the car were very early risers... And the lights had already begun to fade. So when we found a turnoff to a field a short way from the city (not as dark as our usual spot), we pulled over.

Magnificent! (See end for technical details, re: photographing northern lights.) 

The Aurora Borealis was so bright that even full-on headlights from passing pick-up trucks didn't dim the show. Mega-bright.

This was a major storm for us — for anywhere, in fact.

(Canada's national Space Weather site ranked this as a bright red 9, top of the scale for the Southern Prairies region. And AuroraWatch.ca suggested an at least 96 per cent chance of seeing the Auroras... If the sky was clear... And it was!)

Since I've moved to the Prairies and started watching for Northern Lights, I've been in awe of the fact that the stars remain so visible behind the streaks. The Aurora often looks like a cloud, a coloured mistiness that washes across the sky. And clouds — but not these lights! — block stars from view.

Look closely at this picture below... On the left half, you can see (brightly sparkling) the stars that comprise Ursa Major — not just the Big Dipper, but all of the bear, from its head through legs, missing only the tip of its tail. Above, is Ursa Minor, with a twist of Draco between these two bears. On the bottom right, Auriga, the chariot or chariotteer, with the hero Perseus in the cluster of stars above. (We are so lucky to have semi-dark skies here!)

Yes, there are clouds in this picture - there is a low, thin bank, at the very bottom left.
The rest of the sky is crystal clear, with pale green and soft pink Northern Lights. © SB

I am always enchanted when these magical displays splash out from the top of the bowl of the sky, and from there, sheet down to the horizon. Many displays are limited to just the northern horizon, so these full-sky shows are a treat. Below are two shots taken with the camera set to face straight up, to capture whatever was happening during these three-second exposures.

Northern Lights across the bowl of the sky...
This looks like an eagle's head/beak in the centre, to me! © SB

Again, the Northern Lights explode from the centre of the sky. © SB 

The Big Dipper/Ursa Major is clear in the northern part of our skies at this time of year, and in the image below, you can see it above the lights of a distant farmyard, as the Aurora Borealis sheets above and across the sky. (Draco and Ursa Minor are pretty clear, there, too.)

Aurora Borealis falls in waves across the sky, above fields a few minutes north of Regina, Saskatchewan.
Note the Big Dipper, clear above the distant farm complex. © SB 

And the next image looks straight west, showing how much stronger the lights were in the Northern half of the sky...

The lights were slow moving, but at times seemed to fall like rain. This image was taken facing west (with north at right).
The power poles from the grid road can be seen tipping (wide angle distortion) gently rightward,
while lights of an oncoming car glow brightly down the road. © SB 

At one point, a car pulled out of the field across the road, lighting the field where we were parked, watching the show. Its full-on lights provided unexpectedly great lighting for the portrait I had in progress... I'd thought I'd have to retake because of its effect on my timed exposure, but it was fine! (And besides, everyone was cold by then, and wanted to go home, and my model was the early riser with the 6 a.m. shift...) You can see that shot (soon!) on my Photography blog.

Technical details, re: Photographing Northern Lights:

• All photographs were taken using a tripod and remote; all with my Tokina DX 11-16mm f/2.8 lens (the older version, which is an excellent match with my Nikon D7000 for night sky photography); 
• All at f/2.8 and ISO 800, with a shutter speed of three seconds, to capture the most light. (So yes, pictures of Northern Lights will be often be brighter than what our eyes see, because the lens stays open longer... and, yes, photographers may tweak the white or highlights a bit...) 
• All at 11 mm, though some were later cropped to removed distractions and distortions. (My camera has a cropped sensor, so that's somewhat akin to 16 mm on a full frame.) 
• I left the white balance at Auto, though Daylight is often recommended. (In post-production, Daylight's temperature at 5500 was too green, so I reset to 5200 from Auto's 5050...) 
• I also removed the lens filter, as I've read that can create distortion... I've no idea if that's really the case! 
• These Aurora Borealis weren't moving quickly; if they had been, I'd have raised the ISO a few stops for a faster shutter speed. (1.6 seconds at 1600 ISO would allow the sensor to capture the same amount of light, for a slightly grainier image.) 
• I don't have a flashlight with a red lamp, but used my iPhone to see the camera setting when I played with adjustments. Not its flashlight, but the glow from the dim phone screen. 
• The camera was on Manual focus, set to Infinity — except for the portraits I tried, one of which is on my photo blog. The focus setting for that was a bit more complicated! (See my notes with the portrait, re: setting the focus in the dark.) 

I'd welcome comments from other photographers who've shot the Northern Lights, re: your approach and settings! 

What are these? Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights. (The links above go to other pix taken in Regina.)
Location: Slightly beyond the city lights of Regina, Saskatchewan, in a field just out of town.
Photo date: October 1, 2013.

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Late June Aurora Borealis over Regina, Saskatchewan

Ribbons of pale green Northern Lights shimmered across the Regina, Saskatchewan, sky late last night. As I watched, the main band circled from east to west, with other flickers of Auroras along the northern horizon, aka, the roofline of my garage.

The power of Northern Lights: a heart, spade, solar explosion. Kapow! © SB

What do you see in the Aurora Borealis?
I see a woman, nude and dancing, long arms and legs extending... © SB

Shimmer, shimmer - a river of Northern Lights. © SB

Northern Lights, the fire to put the Big Dipper on the boil. © SB

I wish I'd braved the night and driven out into the country, where the lights must have been pure magic!

But I'm a bit spooked by, well, the thought of coyotes and the dark. When I'm alone, at least. And it's long after midnight and everyone else here is asleep. Except the dog, who stayed out with me for a while, then whined to go back to bed.


What are these?  Northern Lights. 

Location: Backyard, Regina, Saskatchewan.

Photo date: About 1:00 a.m., June 29, 2013.  

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Northern Lights: Faintly visible from Regina, Saskatchewan

A geomagnetic storm is underway — and I'm sure if I drove into the country, I'd see clear and vibrant Northern Lights, but even in my backyard, they are faintly, softly, visible.

Here's an image, taken a few minutes ago,  corrected for Tungsten; 11/16 mm, 2.5 sec at F2.8, 800 ISO.

Northern Lights, seen from Regina, Saskatchewan, backyard.  © SB 

What is this? Streaks of green Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights.
Location: Above my garage, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.  

Photo date: May 18, 2013.

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Aurora Borealis over Regina, Saskatchewan: Fall Display

Recently, I caught the green and pink glow of the Aurora Borealis flickering over Regina, Saskatchewan.

Face of the Aurora Borealis.  © SB

With winter coming, I monitor the web for alerts for the Aurora Borealis for the Regina area, but most times the Northern Lights appear, our local skies are cloudy. When this vibrant show hit a few weeks back, however, I lucked out. I stepped outside just after sunset and saw green lights wavering across the darkness above me. We immediately got out our cameras and headed out of town. It was a mild evening, and we stayed out for several hours. (Mild = very cold in ski jackets by the time we came home, but not totally frozen...)

Here are some other thumbnails from that amazing display. The first image at left shows the green and pink Northern Lights over the Big Dipper. Click to open them on my Flickr photostream:

What are these? Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights.
Location: Slightly beyond the city lights of Regina, Saskatchewan.
Photo date: September 30, 2012.

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