On May 10th of this year, I’d been watching the data on the Aurora. It had been pegging the gauge all day so I assumed it would die down before dark. Then some friends asked if I’d want to come with them to see if it would create some images down in Yellowstone. Obviously the energy remained and we managed some great images. We shot from 930pm till 5 am. The one of the purple sky over Crooked Creek was the last shot of the trip. Astro twilight had just begun and the Aurora was fading a bit. It left the sky with this purple tint that looks artificial, but you could see some of that with the naked eye. Quite a night!
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Northern lights are hard to edit since the camera picks up so much more than our eyes. I’ve lightened the foreground in these but for the most part, these colors were visible to our eyes. It was illuminating the ground enough to walk around with no headlamp.
Pertinent Technical Details
These were shot with a Nikon D850 and a Sigma Art 14-24mm. All were shot at f/2.8 and between 2 and 6 seconds.
What an amazing set of images from that one night! Well worth the sleepless night. I have never captured the Northern Lights but could imagine post processing them could get carried away. From my eye, you did great! Curious what the bright spot in the center horizon of “Celestine” is?
Holy Cow, and a whole string of other quaint expressions!! These are each amazing and wonderful and the collection, from a single night, is incredible!! And solar max isn’t over yet – can’t wait to see what you can capture next year!
Thanks @Keith_Flood . That’s a crescent moon bloated by steam and the long exposure. It seemed wildly appropriate that the thermal feature under that steam is Celestine Pool!
By far the one that intrigues me the most is the photo of the moonset. The moon, and its reflection with the aurora and Ursa major in the same frame. Mind blown. And all this in one night, not even registering.
I think in your Crooked Creek photo and the Grand Prismatic & Excelsior image, the deep maroon arc I think is a Spectral Auroral Red (SAR) arc. That is what I captured in October thinking at the time it was an aurora. I am just fascinated by the auroras and I hope to see them one day in person and capture them in my camera.
I definitely think you’re right! I didn’t know what it was at the time, but have since learned about it. In the big pano, it’s crazy how there’s a green band over there red. That’s all facing straight south which is consistent with SAR formations. I wish you the best of luck in the coming years for chances to see am aurora event!
Outstanding collection of the Northern Lights, Paul. They are a phenomena I will not likely be able to see, so thank you so much for sharing them with us.
