Tag Archives: Northern Lights

Knife River Ravine Northern Lights (videos!)

One week ago I was camped out at Crisp Point while working my volunteer lighthouse keeper’s gig near the far eastern end of Lake Superior, and Lady Aurora danced for me (see my post … Lighthouse Keeper’s Dance). This week Lady Aurora decided to dance for me near the western end of Lake Superior. I am a lucky guy! My location was deep within the Knife River Ravine one mile inland from the big lake. I hope you enjoy the lady’s Northern Lights dance. I did!

Note: I tend to edit my Northern Lights images in post processing to better reflect what I saw with the naked eye. With respect to last night’s dance I removed much of the green color my camera chose and made the Northern Lights more white. Most images were taken at an ISO of 3,200 for 2 seconds (Sony A6300, Aperture 2.0 and Rokinon 12 mm manual lens). The real time Northern Lights Videos are at the bottom of this post.

The Green Glow (around 10 pm … an indication the dance was about to start … the horizon often glows just before the start of a good Northern Lights display)

Northern Lights Rays

Firestorm (the lights were flickering on and off every second … and moving around in the sky)

Some Light Painting to Better Show my Environment (see the boulders in the river)


Around midnight I returned home. The Northern Lights were calming down. I took this photograph 150 yards from the end of my driveway.

Northern Lights at Amity Creek / The Deeps


And the movies! Yup, here are two real time videos I took with my Sony A6300 (not time lapse images stitched together). My Sony is not an expensive camera. It dates to the year 2016, and I was using a Rokinon 12 mm manual lens set at 3,200 ISO and Aperture of 2.0. My vantage point is I am standing in the middle of Knife River!

Lady Aurora’s Dance #1 (video link 1 for email subscriber)


Lady Aurora’s Dance #2 (video link 2 for email subscriber)


As with my still images, I did very little post processing of my two videos … some noise reduction and color correction to make the Aurora Borealis less green to better reflect what I was seeing with my naked eye.

Crisp Point Lighthouse Lady Aurora’s Keeper’s Dance

Molly and I are camped out on a remote Lake Superior wilderness shoreline … about 20 miles by water from Whitefish Point and 18 miles by a small dirt road to the nearest pavement. The Northern Lights were not forecast to shine last night, but Lady Aurora decided she wanted to dance in honor of our 10th season serving as Crisp Point Lighthouse Keepers. This gig does not come with a keeper’s residence. Our home is a 3 person pup pitched 20 yards from the big lake.

At 10:00 pm while getting ready to hunker down into my sleeping bag, I decided to take a quick peek through the tent’s window out over the lake … green glow! I put on my warm clothes to keep me warm against the 23 mph winds and 50F temperature and ventured forth into the night. By 10:30 pm (sunset was at 8:00 pm) Lady Aurora decided to dance … a sub storm!!! Here was her performance.


10 Minutes before Sunset … the same night (perspective … west of lighthouse)


10 Minutes after Sunset … the same night (perspective … east of lighthouse)

Northern Lights and Birding Smoke Plume Current Conditions and Forecasts

Each of the past several summers, smoke plumes from forest fires has made taking bird photographs with “sky blue” colors, and seeing the Aurora Borealis difficult at times in northern Minnesota (and the rest of America). For years both in Canada and the United States the goal was always to put out forest fires immediately. While certainly there are always times when wild fires must be extinguished immediately to protect life and property, forests need to burn occasionally to stay healthy. Read more about this need for fire … Fire in the Ecosystem: Boreal Forest (National Park Service)

Here, however, are two tools which will help you deal with the smoke plumes. I have also annotated several screenshots to assist in your understanding and using these tools. Unfortunately the forecasting tool does not reach too far in the future.

Both tools are from NOAA. Click or Press Upon any image to view at full size.

Fire and Smoke Map Current Conditions: (web site)


Smoke Plume Forecasting: (web site)