It's been a horrible week. But the Northern Lights are out here, BIG TIME.

[raven mad]

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=677245068980955&set=a.117040771668057.7680.116664941705640&type=1&theater

The above is Susan Stevenson's work Susan Stevenson Photography). Go there for the stuff we're seeing NOW, tonight! Here's a get-started for DU'ers:



A friend of mine is awesome photographing these wonders. What's even better is seeing them, hearing them, and yes, feeling them.

After a very fraught combat shopping experience at the grocery store, we were on our way home and decided to decompress by taking the long way. That got us away from the "downtown" lights. These babies, above, were visible from suburban (?) areas, and when we got to our long, dark road............. wow. We stopped; to hell with the groceries.

He's been here since 1952, me only since 1968. The lights? Forever, and they evoke the same reaction every single time.

Susan (the photographer) sells her stuff, too - and she's the best I've encountered for this type of photography.

Enjoy!

[DFW]

1. Where the sky is a black opal......... n/t

[jtuck004]

2. "combat shopping". **lol**. The lights are pretty too!! n/t

[cinnabonbon]

3. Oh wow. That is just amazing!

You are so lucky to be able to see northern lights.

[Jenoch]

4. Where are you located to see such a wonderful thing?

[raven mad]

5. Just outside Fairbanks, Alaska.

Supposed to be an active Aurora all week, so I will be out most nights!

[Jenoch]

6. I'm in the northern suburbs of the Twin Cities

and there is too much urban light pollution to see the northern lights. I have seen them from our cabin in northern Minnesota, but they were not as vivid as your photo. What time did you take the pictures, it looks like afternoon?

I was at Fairbanks once when I was quite young. My family drove to Alaska on the Alcan Highway when there were still 1,200 miles that were unpaved.

My parents travelled to Alaska eight times. They led tours five times and were in Fairbanks on business a couple other times. Only one time was Denali visible. My dad always said if it was clear he would charter a plane to fly up for an aerial tour. So they did, but had to wait for the pilot to finish his mail route.

[raven mad]

9. lSeveral years ago, a frequent tourist sent a letter to the local newspaper.

He claimed Denali was a hoax to get the tourists here............ of course, it was totally tongue in cheek, so now, when the Mountain is "out", we all say "but you can't see it, it's not really there".............

[Blue_In_AK]

7. I was so jealous last night,

seeing all these beautiful lights photos showing up on my FB news feed. But we DID get snow down here, so that was a good thing.

By the way, do you know Carl Johnson? He also does astonishingly good aurora photos.

http://cjphoto.photoshelter.com/gallery/Aurora-Borealis/G00003nmp8iSVaVI/C00004.gDdZ8aClk

[raven mad]

8. I didn't know Carl - I do now!

Wow! Thank you! There's an especially warm place in my heart for photographers.

[Blue_In_AK]

10. Check out some of his other galleries.

The guy is really phenomenal, in my opinion. He's rapidly becoming my favorite Alaskan photographer (outside of myself, of course -- haha). He mentioned that he's going to be teaching some classes soon; I'm signing up.

[yuiyoshida]

11. Awesome!

[raven mad]

12. I just went out back.

To turn off the propane to our stove, mostly..........and forgot. Came in, got spouse. Turned off propane. Came in to type this. Going back out!

[Blue_In_AK]

13. According to the Geophysical Institute

Sunday is supposed to be killer. Hopefully, it'll be clear down here then.

[raven mad]

14. Keeping fingers and toes crossed -

with plans to fix dinner to go, grab the -20 sleeping bags, and go out of town several miles. Full tank of gas, hopefully someone along with a camera that will take those shots (mine refuses, and I don't know if it's the camera or the idiot behind it....).

If it's cloudy, I'll be disappointed and STILL have that chilled unopened bottle of Permafrost that I got for Christmas! Don't worry - there is always a designated driver, and everyone else empties their pockets of keys before leaving the cabin. There should be a smiley for "I hope so, I hope so, I hope so" or "No clouds!"

[Lizzie Poppet]

15. Norther Lights are out here, too.

Along with a little Pineapple Crush...

Gorgeous pics! I'm a bit jealous, as we never seem to get that sort of thing here in Portland (and if we did, it would probably be overcast anyway!).

[pokerfan]

16. I've received aurora alerts on my phone the last two nights

but it's been cloudy here.

http://www.aurorawatch.ca/
http://spaceweather.com/
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/pmap/

[raven mad]

17. The alerts are great - I use the NOAA one from UAF's Geophysical Institute.....

but still have to look outside to see if it's cloudy! I've got Sunday night planned, Blue_In_Alaska; forecasts so far call for clear and cold! I hope to have enticed a few beings with decent cameras to go along (I promised to fix the picnic).

Pokerfan, we're planning on about 28 mile up the Eliot, there's a great pullout there! Bring your own Permafrost!

[pokerfan]

21. Yeah, I'm down here in Washington

but we usually get several good nights a year. I like the Edmonton alerts because generally if the sky's rocking there, it's usually visible here.

[WoodyD]

18. Gorgeous!

Here are some more, from ND:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152216163727394&set=a.10152216163297394.1073741874.50249227393&type=1&theater

[raven mad]

19. Excellent! I'm glad it's not a phenomena

confined to here. Although rarer "Outside", I wish everyone could experience them in person at least once.

[pokerfan]

20. Fantastic real time video from three days ago

Yeah, that's pretty much what it looks like...

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

22. Thanks!

I had no idea that the colors and patterns danced and changed so quickly. Wow!

[pokerfan]

23. I saw them for the first time

many years ago in northern BC on a canoe trip. We were probably 100 miles from civilization and it was actually a little spooky. Even made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Especially as they were more or less unexpected. We were actually looking for perseids (meteors) and all of a sudden the northern lights came out.