Wow! I’m back at the hotel after my first viewing experience of the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis). It was amazing! The whole group gathered at the hotel’s lobby @ 9:30PM, then we were transported in two vans to the viewing site about 30 minutes away. The viewing site; called the “Northern Lights Trading Post” is composed of a cabin, a very large tipi tent, a camp fire, with logs substituted around the fire; for sitting, what I believe was an outhouse, and the viewing site which is a very large empty field, the size of two or three football fields. All of this being surrounded by trees. The cabin is very warm (in both senses) and cosy. A wood fired barrel stove keeps the cabin at a comfortable temperature, while hot drinks and snacks are available for everyone, that could sit down and chat with others on the benches lined-up along the wall tents. There are also framed pictures, on the cabin’s wall tents, that showcase a variety of pictures of aurorae, historical photographs, and the wildlife in the surrounding area.
As we arrived there, everyone grabbed a tripod (available near the empty field) and rushed onto the field (me included) to set up their cameras. We were all looking skyward and searching for the aurorae. After about an hour or so of nothing, we slowly started to get discouraged and cold, the temperature was around -10C. So, one by one, we headed back to the camp fire or the cabin, to warm-up, have some snacks or some hot drinks, and to chat with others. Then again, slowly, one by one, we headed back to the vast empty field. Around midnight, I started noticing some very faint discoloration in the sky, directly above me. It was so faint, I couldn’t tell whether is what just my eyes, some clouds, or some light reflection from trucks from the near-by Klondike Highway (or may be it’s the Alaska Highway, as I’m not sure of the exact location of the viewing site). Nevertheless, I kept staring at that discoloration and it seemed to be moving. So, I pointed my camera towards the spot, and I’ve set the exposure time to 30 seconds. Lo and behold it was a very faint green aurora!
At this point, it seemed that the show had finally started! Slowly, over the next couple of hours or so, the intensity, and the shapes of the aurorae started to increase. Mostly they were above the horizon (northward), and spreading horizontally. Sometimes they would spread vertically across the sky. By this point you could hear the excitement from everyone on the empty field enjoying the show and trying to capture it on cameras. The aurorae are slow to appear and move ever so slowly, smoothly and majestically. At one point when the aurorae seemed to reach their peak (around 2AM), they were moving relatively faster, and where they were mostly green in color, some aurorae had a pinkish edge. At some point, they were happening so fast and all over the sky, that I was unable to keep up with capturing them on camera. My exposure time was set to 15 seconds when they were intense, and set to 30 seconds, when they weakened.
Note that this is happening in the middle of the night, and it’s pitch black, some pictures seem as if it’s almost daytime. That’s due to the long exposure time, and due to having a full moon, even casting shadows on the snow!
There was a group of Japanese students, mostly female, that were screaming quite loudly in excitement as the aurorae danced in the sky. At times it was quite odd & funny to see their reactions. When the aurorae would quiet down a bit, people would go inside the cabin, or gather around the camp fire for some snacks and to warm up. But once they hear these Japanese girls scream, they would know that the aurorae are back, and would run back onto the field! As some point, when the aurorae peaked, one of the Japanese girls even started to cry!
As time went by, it was nearing 3AM, the show seemed to have finished for the night. Everyone gathered back in the cabin, then got in the vans, and back to the hotel we went.
One has to keep in mind that the Northern Lights vary in intensity from night to night, depending on the solar activity, and that they occur year long, and even during the day, and that we just don’t see them during the day, well, because of the sunlight. Also, one is not guaranteed that the aurorae would manifest themselves every night, or that they are magnificent every night. I really enjoyed tonight’s show. However, I wonder how would tonight’s show rate compared to other nights. Was tonight’s manifestation good, great, average, or below average? I guess I’ll know after the next couple of nights that I’m spending here in Whitehorse. But, what a great start!
