Aurora Over Churchill- Our Grand Finale at CNSC

Last night was our final night at the study centre. We were hoping for one last aurora, but the space weather forecast was not at all promising. However, the skies were crystal clear, and the stars were gorgeous. Out our bedroom window, Orion looked like a piece of art framed by our window. 

 There was a hint of aurora around 9:30, and by 11:00 it was looking quite nice, with 6 curtains spanning the sky from east to west as you looked north. We were delighted by our luck, but eventually headed to bed around 12:30. Before falling asleep, Brian noticed a very bright aurora out our south facing window. I dressed and went up to the dome, where the heavens were providing a spectacular show of racing lights overhead. Mostly it was bright white and pink light moving very fast above me. This went on for about 2 minutes, and I went back for Brian. By the time we returned to see the lights, it was still beautiful but in a different way. Now the curtains were all over the lower part of the sky, with waves of light running not too far above the horizon. Of course it only looks that way. The aurora is all happening in the same layer of our atmosphere.

Enjoy the photos. We took turns with the camera and lenses. I particularly like the one Brian took that shows the Big Dipper. It was also a good night for the fisheye lens, as the aurora was all over the sky by the end of the night. Again, remember that the photos offer us a different experience from standing underneath them. With the camera's eye, you can see more of the colors in the aurora, but with our own eyes we can see them dance and swirl around the heavens.