Back at home the past couple of nights there has been a light show put on by Mother Nature that only a few have been blessed with seeing. Most people either live too far south, or surrounded by light pollution that makes the glint of dancing lights overpowered by streetlights.
I want to share with you my first ever Northern Lights experience. I can remember it like yesterday.
August 27, 2014; Glacier National Park Montana
I was out on a patrol in northern Montana. As I drove around that night, my only company was my Sirius/XM Satellite radio. Everything seemed like a normal midnight shift. I always carried a camera, because I had experienced some of the best sunrises in Glacier National Park, Often I would see animals waking up and looking for breakfast, and shooting star trails was always a fun way to kill a little bit of down time.
As I drove around through the night, I noticed that my radio had an unusual amount of static. Most nights that was my best company. Never had it been this bad at receiving signal. I pulled over to check the connections. I turned off my headlights and I could see a glow to the north. At once I knew what was going on. The static was coming from the electromagnetic interference happening in the atmosphere. I stepped outside and let my eyes adjust to the darkness.
As my night vision improved I could see pillars of light moving across the sky, making a showering effect, and overall just a random dancing about the sky. The solar storm had surprised many, and seemed to be somewhat unpredicted. Here I was all by myself. I grabbed my camera and tripod and started adjusting settings and seeing what kind of photos I could take. I had shot star trails, so long exposure photography wasn’t something new to me.
After a few different shots, I took a look at the LCD screen and reviewed how the photos were coming out. Much to my amazement, they were better than expected.
I spent a lot more time snapping photos and just enjoyed the moments as nature surrounded me. This was such an amazing and wonderful experience. The whole event lasted a couple of hours, followed soon by the dawn.
One thing I had to look into more is why the photo shows the pinks and purples, but the human eye just sees the light as whitish or greenish. The eye is a very unique instrument to our bodies. Humans really don’t see well at night, we weren’t meant to even really be out and awake during those hours. So if you know about rods and cones, This is where that comes into play. Cameras use a sensor that catches light at wavelengths. That is how the camera picks up the pinks and purples.
The differences in color is also based on where the ionized particles hit the atmosphere. Pinks and purples happen higher up. There is a lot of science that happens with solar storms better researched in places other than here.
I have had several other experiences with the Aurora Borealis during my time in Northwestern Montana. Each time was amazing and wonderful watching those lights dance across the sky. I think everyone should see them at least once. It makes you realize what a small part of such a huge universe we are all part of.
