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SJSUCORGIS t1_jahl1tv wrote

Beautiful

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awesommazing OP t1_jahl6jx wrote

Thanks! Taken with an iphone 11. They were so vivid that night

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akcoder t1_jai8v0u wrote

I fell asleep and missed them. This pic looks like ER area?

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awesommazing OP t1_jaj7oo5 wrote

What’s ER area? This was driving down Seward Hwy

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akcoder t1_jaj90pe wrote

Eagle River. With just the very top of the mountain in the background I thought it might have been at Baldy. But now that you mention the Seward hwy, I can totally picture the mtns in the mchugh creek/Indian area as the backdrop.

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Frame_Farmer t1_jalutln wrote

arrived in Alaska for first time Sunday afternoon and was at Baldy Sunday night and the deep red was nestled between waves of this pink and green was visible to the naked eye and every bit as rich as this picture shows. I was unaware these deep hues and/or this intensity were even available to the naked eye but the activity on Sunday evening was...🥲. Thanks for this!

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akcoder t1_jamkakt wrote

Normally it’s mainly greens that you’ll see. During times of higher geomagnetic activity is when the reds come out. I’m glad you enjoyed the show!

Hatchers pass is where a lot of people go to see/take pictures of the aurora. The light pollution there is minimal.

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ravendarklord76 t1_jal85f8 wrote

McHugh was for sure what I was thinking too. The whole arm is killer for photos for those not in the know.

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Prestigious_Ask3508 t1_jalut4j wrote

This was actually taken at 11. I thought it was a professional astronomical telescope!

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ChorlyChaplin t1_jaifjus wrote

That’s amazing! It looks like someone hit the sky with a neon paintbrush. I hope I get to experience this in person someday.

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awesommazing OP t1_jaj7yx7 wrote

I love that comparison! Especially since they were actually dancing like brush strokes in real life!

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Dodototo t1_jajlbhy wrote

That was one the best I've seen. It was fast, bright and a lot of red. Don't normally see that much color in it.

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fatatero t1_jak2t6l wrote

Aurora borealis?!

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Sivert911 t1_jakcj3o wrote

At this time of year!?

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aPinkSalmon t1_jakooiu wrote

Localized entirely in your kitchen?!

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Koala_eiO t1_jameptj wrote

Kids these days don't have any patience anymore, they skip right to the end of the quote!

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Droidy365 t1_jaktafs wrote

Thank God, I was almost worried this comment wouldn't be here. I'm glad Reddit didn't let me down.

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Piqquin t1_jaj4jfb wrote

Sunday night was the best. The show started early (8:30 p.m. in Juneau!) so more people than usual were able to enjoy them. I even saw pictures from northern Wyoming. It was a fantastic night.

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awesommazing OP t1_jaj8s6w wrote

Thats amazing! I used to be in Juneau and only saw faint green hues. Im happy you guys also had a solid night! I saw Peltola posting about it. This was taken around 9:30pm, we started driving down Seward Hwy at 8pm lol

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Piqquin t1_jajf3gg wrote

I took a short video of it from West Glacier. I lived in Kenai, Kodiak, and Barrow and for some reason, the best lights I've ever seen are in Juneau (April last year and Sunday). Weird luck: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhL7h6DZkc8

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awesommazing OP t1_jajfrr1 wrote

Thats is so pretty!! I remember I kept going there on clear nights

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VocidyWasTaken t1_janmzmf wrote

Wow! I haven’t seen them dance like that since I was a kid! Amazing. 😍

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Norse_By_North_West t1_jal8917 wrote

I'm in Whitehorse and didn't know there were good lights out. Granted was cloudy last night as we got more snow again last night

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Piqquin t1_jalbho5 wrote

Sunday was the best. The Monday before last was pretty spectacular as well. I heard from some friends in Fairbanks that there were some decent lights last night, but like you, we got hit with snow- so cloud cover prevented any show.

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ImTrappedInAComputer t1_jajhisd wrote

I was recently in Norway and saw the northern lights two nights in a row but I definitely don't think it was a strong night. The colors showed up well in cameras doing a long exposure, but it absolutely wasn't bright enough to see colors with your eyes. It just could've been a gray cloud.

How visible were the colors to the eyes?

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416warlok t1_jajo4nw wrote

So I'm just some pleb who has never seen the northern lights... I do think though, that if I were to see them, they would never look as bright and as colourful as basically every photo seems to portray them. I could be wrong, but I'd be very surprised if they looked like this photo with the naked eye.

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TheValxyrie t1_jak5ody wrote

If you're able, take a trip to Northern Norway between October and March, and unless you're very unlucky, you'll be in for a big surprise!

Source: I launch rockets into the northern lights so that scientists can study them.

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DBGames01 t1_jaknxv2 wrote

I soldered the PCBs for UNH’s instrumentation on ACES II. Small world lol

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TheValxyrie t1_jalk348 wrote

I'm the manager for the Telemetry & Radar department at Andøya Space. Small world indeed! ACES II was an amazing launch.

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awesommazing OP t1_jakefu1 wrote

I said the same thing too! Ive been taking photos of them for a while and I thought them dancing and being very vivid is a myth. I also heard from alot of long time northern locals that that sunday night northern lights was just especially strong. The colors were really vivid. It was so strong it was reported to be seen all the way down to Colorado

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awesommazing OP t1_jakdr46 wrote

Ive been taking photos of Northern lights lots of times with my iphone and i understand what you mean. I had to take photos to be able to clearly find them. That night was different. I thought it was a myth how they dance and very vivid, but that night i felt like my phone didnt do justice on how vivid they were.

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awesommazing OP t1_jake5pc wrote

Sorry, to answer your question—-the colors were so visible to the eyes we joked that it reminded us of Windows XP screensaver

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FrankieAK t1_jakzwl5 wrote

I moved to central Alaska last year and I've seen the lights quite a few times and they aren't always as vivid as photos, but that night was SO vivid to the naked eye. They were extremely bright.

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MyIpadSuck t1_jakwov3 wrote

Can't describe how much I want to see the Northern Lights. I spent 10 days in Alaska with overcast every night. Saw nothing. Some day.

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daniel_ionescu t1_jahphi4 wrote

the lights are so beautiful

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akcoder t1_jai97nc wrote

Watching them live is amazing! In order to get a good pic you have to leave the shutter open longer and so the aurora appears smeared. In person, they are very crisp and vivid.

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hdniki t1_jakq6ez wrote

One of my favorite memories is being at flattop and laying down in the snow, looking up at the Aurora right above me

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Macemore t1_jaj4hdn wrote

Jealous you got orange/red!!!! I'm up near Kotzebue for 5 months every year and only get green!

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pileodung t1_jaj9lz2 wrote

What makes the color so different here? Do the colors stay the same in places that can see the lights?

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reddog323 t1_jajehdj wrote

It depends how hard the particles are hitting the earth’s magnetic field, from what I understand.

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Norse_By_North_West t1_jal8km7 wrote

I'd like to add that the colours are kinda like neon lights, different molecules will give different colours. Upper atmosphere isn't uniform across the globe, so northern areas tend to get different colours than southern. That said, energetic particles come into the atmosphere further, so when that happens in the north, you can get all the colours

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deadzip10 t1_jaj9m4w wrote

Off the wall question I’ve wondered about for some time: can you get this to show up in just a regular picture or do you need specific equipment? For instance, could I use my phone camera to capture this or would I need something more specialized?

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vactu t1_jajcxp8 wrote

You can use a regular camera.

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TrevelyanISU t1_jajsgl6 wrote

Just need to use your pro mode and set shutter speed to at least 5 or 6 seconds or more

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awesommazing OP t1_jakek7q wrote

This is captured with iphone 11 pro in night mode max seconds

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shanksisevil t1_jajr9l7 wrote

I quickly read the ak as Arkansas. 🤦

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WildCurlyBaby t1_jajxmei wrote

What a privilege to see the northern lights!!! So beautiful

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bartsteed t1_jak2pmb wrote

My God. I must see these IRL someday, before I die.

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Express_Basis_8038 t1_jam8ip0 wrote

Did you know.... Earth's Aurora is mainly green due to a high concentration of oxygen in the lower atmosphere. You can observe the presence of different atmospheric gas by studying a planets Aurora, if vissible. If you find earths northern lights fastening then check out Jupiters northern, southern lights! They seem to be never ending!

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tom_the_red t1_jan92gn wrote

They are powered by the rotational momentum of Jupiter and the gravitational squeezing of the moon Io. If both survive the end of the Sun, the aurora of Jupiter might be one of the brightest things left to shine in the solar system

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Jakeattack77 t1_jak196q wrote

So breathtaking! Could you see any glimpses of color with your eyes?

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scavenger07 t1_jak6d1b wrote

Wow. Utterly stunned by the sheer beauty

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philmo69 t1_jak6frq wrote

I really need to get up to Alaska for northern lights...

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Sum1udontkno t1_jakfl32 wrote

Thanks for the new homescreen pic lol

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ScribblesandPuke t1_jakfz8u wrote

I was reading recently about Tom Thomson the Canadian painter, who painted the Northern Lights a few times. Then on Sunday there was a nature show on TV showing images of them from the Yukon. I was thinking it must be amazing so see them and literally thinking about the lights all weekend.

Then I see a story saying they were visible from Ireland, there are pictures from Sligo which is nearby to where I live. I was outside at night but didn't notice anything. And the articles say, as has been noted here, that they were seen better on photos than with the named eye.

I don't get this? Whenever I take photos at night the photos generally pick up LESS of the various atmospheric effects in the sky than what my naked eye sees. Also, how do people know to take photos if the phenomenon if you can't see it with the naked eye?

The artist I was reading about always worked from life in the wilderness so I'm guessing you can see it. I'm so annoyed, it was like the universe was giving me signs about it and I was supposed to see it but I missed it.

Be handy if they could tell us ahead of time when it's going to happen. After the other night a bunch of websites showing the photos said it could happen again the next night but it was cloudy, as it almost always is in February in Ireland.

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Interloper9000 t1_jaklkq1 wrote

These were rare when I was there 20 years ago. Are they more common now?

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MyCatsNameIsKlaus t1_jakm3an wrote

OP, what did they look like to the naked for you?

I was a little underwhelmed when I saw them in the Norway but once I saw the pictures I took I was blown away by the spectrum of lights my camera caught compared to my eyes.

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kinnster14 t1_jaknljt wrote

Beautiful!!!!! What a great shot!!!

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Refugee_Savior t1_jakxggc wrote

Man I left anchorage to go home back down in the lower 48 Sunday morning. Now I wish I missed my flight.

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No-Spoilers t1_jalcxr8 wrote

I always get so sad seeing these pictures.

I want to experience this so badly.

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Alone-Sell-7478 t1_jalfw0f wrote

I can only imagine the stories that came from these lights

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Kena46268 t1_jalrfxr wrote

I want to see these one day

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Imaginary-Chemist209 t1_jam71ms wrote

I lived in Alaska for four years while I was stationed there while in the Army. I was fortunate enough to see something like this a few times and it was truly breathtaking.

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VocidyWasTaken t1_janmet1 wrote

Wow! Living here in Alaska is so amazing. It is beyond beautiful here. 😍

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Admirable-War-1021 t1_jaojosc wrote

What a blessing. Is this the right time of the year to be in Anchorage for this?

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