Very nice Paul, I think #3 is my favorite. It's been 22 years since I've seen the Northern Lights, they just aren't visible out here much. We've got clear skies tonight, I think I'll head out and see what I can see tonight.

Beautiful captures Paul!...I have yet to get a photo of the northern lights. I know when I was a kid(a few years ago ) we'd all stand in the yard and watch em over head and were like great shafts or pillars of light dancing straight above us!....and there's one thing I'll always remember from a couple particular nights...the display made a "crackling noise"..yes...we all heard them...on more then one occasion...made noise like "crackling cellophane"...maybe my ears were better back then ...I've since googled the "noise" thing and apparently others have heard it also...although very rare!


Below is from a report I found of the sounds from the aurora's...

"most curious and highly controversial question involves auroral sound. Although I've never heard one, my wife has and so have several scientists I know. Some reports of hearing noises associated with auroral displays may be erroneous impressions, but I am convinced many others are not. Hundreds of written reports indicate noises are sensed when a particular type of fast-Aurora is nearly overhead. Some people sense whistling and "crackling noises", even when they close their eyes.


The reports of auroral sound make it certain that the unknown cause of the apparent sound is in the vicinity of the hearer, not in the Aurora itself. Most likely, the reported noises are related to electrical phenomena which accompany certain types of bright Aurora.'

Did they look green in real life? I've seen them many times but I always remember white. The one photo I took at home shows them as white too. What might change the color? Height in the sky? Atmospheric particulates? Too much beer?

Yep, but I've seen brilliant red ones as well! Jonny, I remember listening to them when I was a kid, too. I've seen some great ones later in life, but haven't heard them since when I was young.

In N.D., they always seemed to be white. All the ones I've seen here in the Arrowhead have been green. I have only a couple times seen red with the naked eye, but film/sensor captures colors it's hard to see, and some of the northern lights images I've reviewed after a green N.L. display showed red in them.

I think I like the last one the best! I'll tell you northern lights with nice foreground elements are way up on my "want list". I keep looking at Iceland Air dreaming about the day I can head over to Iceland and get some wallhangers (well one can hope).

I believe a person could do quite well in Alaska, and it's much more accessible than Iceland. I've seen some pretty awesome shots of the northern lights in Alaska.

On a couple of the pics, I took with better than 2 minutes of exposure at iso 1200 actaully showed the corn field acros the road as well as the stripe on the shoulder.

2 years ago I saw such an amazing display on the border with Canda It had red, green and white. They were so bright I was able to turn off my headlighs and drive down the road. OF course I did not have my camera with for some dumb reason.

That could explain it, Steve, I grew up in North Dakota and now live in west central Minnesota where we have a Dakota accent.