Northern Lights Moment - Part 2

In my last post, I wondered why I missed the Northern Lights and cancelled the reason I had chosen to miss the Northern Lights. You can read that post here.

I accepted that sometimes the reason we think we're experiencing a synchronicity moment isn't actually the reason after all. I accepted the fact that I had missed my chance to see the Northern Lights this time. I was supposed to be heading home and the 3 day aurora forecast was quiet.

My departure kept getting delayed; but the aurora forecast wasn't improving. I was finally ready to leave four days later than planned on March 23 (3-23-23 - I love numbers) but there had been an accident overnight and the highway was closed in both directions. The highway was also slushy, so I delayed my return one more day when it would be safer to drive.

How lucky or synchronicitous. It turned out that the Northern Lights would be stronger than it had been in six years that night. 

I love seeing the Big Dipper standing on its handle in this photo.

This photo was facing East with the golf course behind the trees.

Since I was driving nine hours the next day, I didn't want to stay up for too long in the night. Perhaps I will regret this decision if I don't get to see them again.

I didn't understand how special 3-23-23 would be for the aurora borealis. It was a G4 Kp 8 event. I understood that going to a darker place would have given me a better chance of seeing them, but I wasn't comfortable driving in the dark to wait alone in an isolated spot in the cold. Especially when I didn't know if and when they could be visible. 

What I didn't expect was that the colours would not be visible to the naked eye. When I was going outside (first at 10:20; 10:40 and then 10:55), I was looking for green. 

When I went out at 10:55, I noticed white clouds dancing in the sky, in a way that clouds don't. When I turned the phone on to take a video, the colours were bursting in the phone. I was SO excited to realize that the Northern Lights were active!! 

They remained active for almost half an hour. In hindsight, I wish I had informed myself better to learn how to get my eyes to better adjust to see the colours.

When I was looking at the photos on my computer, this heart jumped out at me. 

I edited the videos I took to create a highlights video. I removed the audio to delete my ooh-ing and aah-ing as well as my walking around. I thought a quiet video would be boring, so I decided to compose a melody to accompany the video. If you prefer quiet, you can click on mute.

Tips:

• Our eyes have cones (to see in daytime) and rods (to see in nighttime). Rods see in black and white, hence the reason everything is a shade of grey in the dark. The light is too dim for our cones to detect colour. The stronger the aurora (and the further north you are), the more likelihood you'll see colour with the naked eye.
• The longer you are outside in the dark, the better your chance of seeing the colours. Your eyes will adjust in order for the colours to be visible. Ideally go to a dark location without city lights.
• To help your eyes adjust, don't look at lights or your camera/phone screen (lower the brightness if possible). 
• If light pollution is unavoidable, try to have the lights behind you. I walked into a parking lot so that the lights weren't between the aurora and me.
• They are most visible the further the sun is from view - so in the middle of the night; especially when the aurora is weaker.
• The Aurora Borealis Notifications Group on Facebook is a great resource for forecasts, where to go, camera settings. Look at the guides and featured posts for detailed information.
• The video on my iPhone X barely showed anything. The iPhone 14 automatically went into "night mode" with instructions to hold still for a few seconds. I had it on a tripod and held it against my body to hold the iPhone steadier than in my hand. The better your camera and its settings, the better the photos and videos will be.
• Another good resource is Soft Serve News' Aurora Forecast. I took this screenshot a couple of hours before going outside. They also show the estimated Kp in 4, 7 and 11 minutes for more detailed information. 

• They rated the geomagnetic storm a level 4 out of a 5 tier scale with a Kp of 8. The following map explains the Kp. Locate your city, and see which Kp is visible for your location. If your location is above the green line, for example, the Northern Lights are likely visible when Kp is 5 or greater. If you're in a 5 zone and the Kp is 8, the aurora will be even more active.

• Another factor that affects the activity is the solar wind's magnetic orientation in the up/down direction (known as Bz). If the Bz is a negative number (it was -15 on March 23), the likelihood of Northern Lights is even greater than the regular Kp map. If it's positive, the aurora may not happen if with a Kp 5.