The Truth About Northern Lights

Currently, we are upon the solar maximum, and in Colorado we are suddenly seeing Northern Lights. This Spring they have happened 3 times. The solar maximum will go on for about a year, and so we will have more chances to see them possibly for a little bit. It will like be another 11 years before we will have the chance again. I don’t want to go into the science of it because I don’t have a great enough understanding to do anything more than spread false information. I was an Art/Communication major, not a Science major, so I’ll stay in my lane.

I have been lucky enough to see the Northern Lights 4 times in the last 5 years. My first time was 5 years ago in Iceland. They hit on the first night we were there. Jace and I had started to drift off to some hard Zs from being awake for 24 of travel when the front desk person knocked on our door to tell us that the Northern Lights were out. (It’s totally normal to request a Northern Lights wake-up call in Iceland!) We pulled ourselves out of bed, about used toothpicks to prop our eyelids up, bundled up and headed out. I grabbed my camera and tripod sure I was going to be coming home with the most epic photos ever seen. There up in the sky was a long green line weaving through the night sky. It wasn’t moving it was just there. Jace flung himself on a patio chair while I wrestled and fought with my tripod and camera. Completely exhausted and zero patience left, I quickly gave up the fight and took a photo with my phone camera. It was 20 degrees, Jace and I were so tired it hurt, and after about 5 whole minutes, we headed back to bed. I don’t know if they became more active, if they danced across the night sky, if more colors came and at the time, I just didn’t care. Nothing was more amazing to us than a warm bed and sleep. That was our first experience.

Glorious isn’t it? Just sitting here waiting for an award for this one. It’s going to be a long time waiting.

The second time was last fall when we packed up the family and headed out to Iceland. Sienna spotted them out the window of the airplane. The green was pretty faint, and I took this incredible photo (heavy sarcasm) below. When we landed, I excitedly sent it to my Aunt Mary Jo and said, “LOOK!” She responded, “That’s great! What am I looking at?” Even if it wasn’t the amazing experience of the Northern Lights I’ve seen in photos, it was still cool to see.

The third time was later in the trip. For most of the trip, the skies were completely overcast. Even though we knew most nights, there were probably lights in the skies; the clouds would rob us of the joy of seeing them. We were up in Northern Iceland, Mývatn; we had just settled into the farm cottage for the night after watching the sunset while soaking in the Mývatn Nature Baths. I exited the shower when Xander came in and said, “I think the Northern Lights are coming out.” I looked outside, but I didn’t see any color. In the distance, I could see a cloud lit up like a city in the distance, but I knew there wasn’t any city in that area. I have read often that the human eye can’t always see the colors, but a camera can. I took a photo of the cloud with my phone, and sure enough, the cloud was green! The Northern Lights were here! I bundled back up, threw a hat on my wet hair, and we started frantically scanning the sky. Soon we started to see the Northern Lights in green coming down on us. The color was becoming more and more vivid. I ran for my camera and tripod. While I was wrestling and fighting to set up my camera and tripod (AGAIN!) Jace yelled, “KATE! LOOK UP! YOU’RE MISSING IT! THEY ARE MOVING!!” I looked up; the green lights were coming down like curtains and dancing across the sky. I had never seen them move before, and it was one of the most beautiful sites I have ever seen. Once again, I gave up on my camera and took photos with my phone. I don’t regret that decision because it was 2 hours of watching and experiencing green, purple, and white pop up everywhere in the sky and dance. It was like watching Northern Lights Wack-a-mole as they pierced through the clouds, and you didn’t know where they would stream through next. At one point, we looked straight up, and they came right down on us. It was about the most spiritual experience this non-believer has ever had. It is the closest I will ever get to winning the lottery.

Phone photographs have upped their game in 5 years’ time. Still not winning any awards, but a good nod to our experience.

Last night was the fourth time I experienced the Northern Lights, and I did it here in Colorado! This only cost me a half tank of gas to drive up to the Pawnee National Grasslands (on the border of Wyoming and Colorado). I missed the first two Northern Lights show in Colorado and didn’t want to miss another. I knew they wouldn’t be as intense as they were in Iceland, but I was so excited to be able to see them in my home state.

Yesterday my Aurora Pro app alerted me to a strong solar storm around 3 pm. Clearly, with the sun, we weren’t going to see anything. I let Jace know that there was a slight chance for a storm tonight, and if there was, I was going to go chase the lights. I asked my neighbor, whose job it is to make satellites (total smarty pants) if there was any chance this storm would still be kicking by 9 pm. She said from the data I had provided her, it would be 50% less dense, so probably not. I stubbornly and borderline obsessively kept checking my app. The numbers were holding high until 7 pm when the numbers dipped too low, and I finally told Jace, “Game off.” At 7:30, I got an alert on my app that there was a chance of seeing the Northern Lights in my area tonight. The numbers had gone up, and it quickly went back to game on!! Jace sweetly decided he would join me as he didn’t want me out in the middle of nowhere alone, even though he had to work in the morning. We grabbed our stuff and headed out and decided that the west side of Pawnee National Grasslands, about an hour and a half away. We were thinking that might be our best bet to get away from the light pollution of the city. (Word to the wise, it still had a decent amount of light pollution, I would probably pick another place)

When we got there we couldn’t see anything. We were out on a dark road and nothing was happening. We also knew there was a good chance something may be going on, and we couldn’t see it with our naked eye. So we pointed our cameras North and started taking pictures. Our suspicion was right! Our camera was seeing all the colors!

While I did do a tiny bit of editing on this photo, I did not mess with the colors. I mostly straightened my horrific horizon line and took down the grain from my high ISO.

However this gorgeous photograph above was not what we were experiencing at all. I used the same photograph and edited down what our eyes were actually seeing and experiencing below. This isn’t in black and white, I just took the saturation slider way down.

This could be one of the best examples of Instagram vs Reality. While I didn’t mean to make real-life look 1,000 times more intense than it actually was, my camera can just see more colors than my eyes can. I couldn’t capture real life straight out of the camera. If you compare the two, you can see where the camera caught the green, and to us, it just looked like clouds. At this moment, taking photos was the only way we were experiencing the colors of Northern Lights.

Around 10:30 pm, my phone alerted me to the numbers strengthening. About two minutes later, the sky faintly turned red and green, and if you looked hard enough we could see a little bit of movement. I think had we been in an even darker area, it would have been brighter, but still, nothing like what my camera was experiencing.

The photograph below was edited to show you what we saw with our own eyes when this happened. It wasn’t intense, but it was enough for me to scream in excitement like a complete psycho, “OMG!! IT’S HAPPENING!! I CAN ACTUALLY SEE IT!!!” While jumping up and down and shaking Jace as if he didn’t have two very capable eyes to see it himself.

What we saw was completely different than what my camera saw below.

So, to anyone from Colorado who woke this morning to see the Northern Lights had come and you missed them and may be feeling sad and bummed, I want to be honest with you about what you missed. It wasn’t even close to the photos you saw. And truthfully, do you know what you didn’t miss out on? Sleep!

I wanted to share this for a few reasons. Number one, if the numbers are looking favorable again to see the Northern Lights, I still think it is absolutely WORTH IT to go see and experience it!! Even though the colors aren’t as vibrant as you see on social media, the rush you feel when you actually do see colors in the sky will take your breath away!

Second, I want to be helpful about what you might be looking for if you decide to chase the lights. If Jace and I hadn’t already experienced Iceland and knew that you can’t always see them with your naked eye, we would have gone up there and thought that they didn’t hit and left. The green gases look like clouds all the way this far south. If you decide to adventure out there, when in doubt, just photograph the north and see what you might find!

Third, accurate expectations help in life experiences. If you go hunt the lights in Colorado, hoping to see the sky light up with deeply saturated colors, you will be super disappointed. I am not saying it won’t/can’t happen, but more likely than not, the colors are going to be really subtle. Again, I thought it was still worth it!

A few more lies for you…