Auroras

So, sadly but truly (and especially ever since I accidentally threw it on the ground and messed up the viewing screen) my point-and-shoot camera doesn't seem to be able to capture auroras. Which is why I haven't been posting pictures of them, even though few good visibility days go by without them gracing the sky during at least one of my daily outside walks.

For the first few weeks after it started getting dark, I was pretty disappointed by the auroras. It became obvious that they aren't nearly as crisp or brightly colored to the naked eye as they are in so many of the photos I've seen. And at first they were just smoke-colored streaks in the sky, and I was worried that was all there was to it and that the real glory is to be seen through the camera lens, which--thanks to various exposure options--can see colors the human eye can't.

But as the season has gone on, the auroras have gotten better and better to the point that it really is breathtaking when I happen to walk out there to find the whole sky filled with bright green dancing around everywhere. Such a privilege.

All the same, the people here with really good cameras--especially those who have devised warming boxes and have tripods and can set up their cameras outside and leave them in place for nice long exposures--have been getting AMAZING photos that are definitely more spectacular than the eye can see, unless you give extra points for actually being out in the cold and having the experience of seeing them with your own eyes (which I do!).

Here is one such photo, thanks to Hans Boenish.

And then here are a couple more, photo credit Max Peters: