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[santi02]

Hi,

I'm one of the Adler telescope volunteers and I've been checking spaceweather.com regarding the solar wind we're supposed to encounter tomorrow night. I would really love to see the aurorae.

So, I was planning on taking a road trip & seeing how far north I could drive in one day. Right now I believe I can get to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada in about 13 hours (49° 54' N). The other option is Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada in about 11.5 hours (48° 22' N). Does that sound okay or do you think the view would be the same if I only drove a couple hours away from Chicago?

Any input you guys could offer would be great. Also, if driving into Canada or very close to it would be advantageous, I'd also like to offer a seat to anyone who'd like to come along for the ride. I'd be leaving very early tomorrow morning.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Santiago,

Boy, when you go for a road trip you go all out!

Thank you for joining the Chicago Astronomer family and for your first post.

As I interpret the data, it doesn't seem to be a great emission for lower latitude aurorae.

If the activity were 50% or higher, I would make the venture. But it shows only a maximum of 35% for an active and just 10% for a severe bombardment.

Canada is a hell of a way to go, I admire your intrepid spirit! Although chances dramatically increase to catch a good aurora the further north you go, I think that staying closer to home in this case would be just fine.

[santi02]

oh! too late.

Already back from my trip. Geez, I'm tired as h3ll. I'll post some pics later. I'm at work right now & don't remember my flickr pword. oh wait, now I do. But like I said, I'm @ work.

thx for the props, Joe.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Santiago,

I would be pleased to see what you captured.

When you have the time would be cool.

[santi02]

here are my pics!!! IT WAS BEEEAAAAUUUUUUUTIFUL!!! I was completely going off the spaceweather.com info and just hoped for the best. There was always the possibility I'd see nothing, but hey, life's a risk. Right carnal?

[update: narrative] 2 days, 2100 miles, 5 hours of sleep, and one burrito. Left my house about 07:30 Fri morning and I kept driving 'til a little after midnight when I shot my first aurora photo. None of the photos have post processing (other than text); I don't really like doing that with photos where I'm trying to show what it was like if you had been there.

all Photos: Nikon CoolPix 5400

This image was taken as I was driving, I thought the sun looked so good, had to take the shot.

shutter: 1/131.4 sec - F/7.3
ISO: 100
white balance: sunlight


This was right after my stop at customs. I forgot to sign my passport. Doh!! So they're questioning every reason why someone would want to drive all the way to Canada just to see aurorae. As they put it, "I see it all the time." Anyway, after that delay, I was lucky there was still someone at the visitor info center, I was able to get a much more detailed map of Manitoba.

shutter: 1 sec - F/3.4
ISO: 100
white balance: sunlight


So I hit Winnipeg but decide "too much light pollution", keep driving, then "what is that???". I thought I saw a huge cloud over the horizon; I keep driving, and suddenly, BAM!!, the sucker just turns blue and green. Pulled over to side of road; snap, snap.

shutter: 129.96 sec - F/2.8
ISO: 100
white balance: sunlight
tripod mounted with remote shutter
the orange you see at the bottom is from the blinkers on my car


Drove for two more hours, for a while they disappeared, thought it was all gone, then BAM!!!

shutter: 129.26 sec - F/2.8
ISO: 100
white balance: incandescent
tripod mounted with remote shutter


sorry, can't type too much more - hands hurt.

shutter: 123.99 sec - F/2.8
ISO: 100
white balance: incandescent
tripod mounted with remote shutter



shutter: 170.90 sec - F/2.8
ISO: 100
white balance: incandescent
tripod mounted with remote shutter


full sizes can be viewed at:
www.flickr.com/gp/98278686@N00/d09P2Z

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Santiago,

Now, those are very nice Aurorae shots.

You must provide a story with the pics and offer the imaging details - (camera, exposure, post processing etc...).

Interesting how low Ursa Major is hugging the horizon on your trek north.

A long trip like that deserves a good narrative.

Thanks for sharing...

[santi02]

Joe,

it was beautiful. I'd never seen anything like that before and the trip was sooooooo worth it. The next day I got drunk with some Canadians. Drove back, went straight to work. Soooooo tired. One thing I didn't shoot was the moon, but I should've. It was incredibly orange. First noticed the moon around 18:30 and it went down below horizon about 23:30; they sure don't get to see that too much. My 1st priority was aurorae, so I didn't wanna stop for a moon shot. Ursa Major definitely stood out in my mind. I'd never seen it soooo big and obvious in the sky before. It looks big in the pic, but WOW, it was huge in real life. sorry about no narrative before, like I said = really tired.

If anyone wants to go in the future, I'm willing; provided it coincides with a wknd. Esp. now that I know the area. It was pretty hard navigating on 1st time; their roads are definitely not like ours unless you're on the one HUGE major expressway. I'm almost happy to pay tolls now that I'm back.