lee petersen photography

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  1. 2015
  2. January

2015-01-07

One of the most incredible aurora displays I've seen yet. Fairbanks, Alaska
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  • Diffuse Aurora Filling the Sky

    Diffuse Aurora Filling the Sky

    When I walked out my door a diffuse aurora filled the entire sky. Multiple bands were starting to condense and brighten. It was an incredible sight - even the stars were getting drowned out. There's the Pleiades cluster over the 3rd tree from the left.

  • End of the Road

    End of the Road

    I quickly found myself running to get to the trails making it only to the end of the street when the aurora really started taking off.

  • The sky is incredible

    The sky is incredible

    I turned around - looking back toward my house. The western sky was completely lit up.

  • Structure

    Structure

    I turned back around - the blob was brightening to the northeast and a bright band just south of it was developing really cool structure.

  • Structure dwindles

    Structure dwindles

    Literally 5 seconds after the previous photo was taken.

  • The northern sky

    The northern sky

    I really should have been shooting at about 1/60 of a second here - all the structure and brilliant pinks in these bands have been washed out by the super fast motion at a 10/25 sec. It was kind of the theme of the night, always getting caught off-gaurd.

  • A bright aurora

    A bright aurora

    I had to underexpose a bit to avoid totally blowing out and oversaturating the aurora. This was probably the brightest band I have ever seen.

  • It broke up quickly

    It broke up quickly

    That amazing band disintegrated as quickly as it appeared. Giving me time to run to another location and get to look in another direction.

  • Aurora band reforming

    Aurora band reforming

  • The aurora creeps up

    The aurora creeps up

    It didn't stay broken up for long and started to brighten on the horizon.

  • Magical Forest

    Magical Forest

    The aurora borealis dances over a boreal forest in Fairbanks, Alaska. Blog: http://lwpetersen.com/photo-blog/week-northern-lights-wouldnt-quit/

  • Magical Forest - Black and White

    Magical Forest - Black and White

    Incredible northern lights display over a snow-clad forest in Fairbanks, Alaska.

  • Taking control of the sky

    Taking control of the sky

    Cranking my neck up at the eastern sky

  • Untitled photo
  • Untitled photo
  • Turn to the west

    Turn to the west

    I had my eyes trained on the eastern sky for a while. Then I turned around to this sight.

  • Fast Lights

    Fast Lights

    Shimmering rays overhead

  • Explosions in the sky

    Explosions in the sky

    Stunning aurora display over Fairbanks, Alaska.

  • The Western Sky Erupts

    The Western Sky Erupts

    There's just no end to this show!

  • Green

    Green

    This was one band that just exploded over my head. I could see two more doing the same thing to the north and the southern sky was just diffuse green.

  • Aurora Storm

    Aurora Storm

    An awesome and strengthening aurora band slowly drifts south as it condenses and intensifies.

  • Condensing

    Condensing

    The bright auroral band (in the photo above) condensed and brightened. I had to lower the exposure again to keep from overexposing the aurora. The pinks still got washed out a bit.

  • Bands moving south

    Bands moving south

  • Spreading out

    Spreading out

    The bands overhead started to diffuse out quite a bit. There were still strong bands on the northern horizon.

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    End of the Road
    The sky is incredible
    Structure