While watching TV around 10:30pm a familiar green glow from the night sky caught my attention. Even with the low cloud tonight the aurora managed to find a way through and for a brief 30 minutes it danced around and through the clouds until it was overcome and became a green mist barely visible on the distant horizon. I confess the temperature left me not too concerned that it had ended as I scurried back into the warmth and a nice cuppa.
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It seems that Aurora are like busses, you wait ages for one then two come along in quick succession. Tonight we got a really nice display that started around 7pm which meant Sarah and I could both stand and watch the incredible show as it strung luminous green strands across the Cochrane skyline. With a three quarter moon lighting the foreground it was a great night to photograph the show too so plenty of pics were made. Below is a small sample of this wonderful phenomenon, as usual the main shot can be clicked for a larger version and the smaller shots open to a gallery.
At 11:00 pm tonight I got an alert from Aurora Watch saying a sighting was likely by midnight. So between 11:30 pm and 00:00 I walked out onto the balcony several times to check. For the first 20 minutes all I could see was cloud but by midnight I could just make out a faint glow on the horizon. It was absolutely freezing so I went back in the house and prepared the camera and tripod, put on some cold weather gear and returned to the balcony and grabbed a few shots of what turned into a reasonable display. Best of all was the rising mist coming from the Bow River in the valley below as it formed a white cloud snaking through the town, I'm only posting a few shots as it's not a particularly great Aurora but as always, it was wonderful to experience, you can click the image for a larger version.
At midnight last night I got an email from 'Aurora Watch' with a red rating (high likelihood of seeing auroral activity) Outside there was little going on but there were signs of a green hue through the clouds so I got the camera out and waited a while. In a short time the sky lit up like a Christmas tree, there were long streaks booming out of and over the clouds, and for the next two hours I watched a fantastic display. Below is a small gallery of shots randomly pulled from the hundreds I took during those wonderful two hours.
Last night saw another nice aurora over Cochrane, I took the usual shots but as I recently posted a photo set of the town with the aurora above it I thought I'd just pick out the stars for this one. It lasted a couple of hours as usual and I still find myself standing out there watching until it dies away, there's something truly magical about the Aurora Borealis that keeps me watching long after I've got my shots. Click image for larger version.
At 10pm on Saturday night I got an 'Aurora Alert' email from the US Geophysical Institute in Alaska, as I looked out of the window there didn't appear to be much chance of seeing anything as the clouds were filling the sky but I hung around just in case. By 11:30pm a hole had appeared in the cloud and both Sarah and I were able to watch the show, by 12:30am the cloud had closed in again but we did at least get 1 hour of a pretty good summer aurora.
Just about to go to bed last night and got an 'aurora alert' by email so I hung around a little longer to see the show...I'm glad I did, it was a fairly short but incredibly intense burst that was well worth another late night.
The house in Cochrane is certainly providing a great viewing spot for the Aurora, I'm still too lazy to actually get myself out there in the mountains to make some great aurora shots, so here's some more 'from the balcony' shots of a great display on Wednesday this week.
We are already settling into our new home in Cochrane and on our first Saturday evening we were welcomed by a nice level 4 auroral display right off the balcony. We saw a group of deer the evening before so it looks like the balcony here may be as active as it was at Valley Ridge. The gallery below shows the Aurora over Cochrane and Bearspaw to the East of the town. We're still a little way from organised but will post pics of the house in a couple of weeks when things are in their rightful places.
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AuthorWe arrived in Calgary, Canada on 29th December 2011 to continue our journey. This blog is intended to keep our family and friends informed whilst we explore Canada.You can use the RSS feed below to stay updated. Categories
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