Blue Red Canyon

ME AT 6PM TALKING TO MY KIDS THAT DAY: “Tonight, people are getting auroras in Europe as south as Spain again, but I’ve been out a lot these past few weeks, and I reaaaally don’t feel like driving anywhere. They can have it…” ME AT 8:30PM: “Okay, so I’m going to drive up north about 3 hours, spend about 1 hour at my vantage point, then 3 hours back, so I should be back between 4-5am. Leaving in half hour!!!” So I went to a location that looked pretty good, and two miles before getting there, I get the “This area is closed to the public” sign and gate… I had to improvise in an area I’m not extremely familiar with, and after a couple of two more failed attempts, I ran into this lookout (that some may recognize). Not ideal but I settled for it… And there it was, the aurora, glowing in red!! No visible structures this time, mostly just the glow, but quite noticeable naked eye, and blooming in the long exposures. I like how the “winter” Milky Way aligns with the aurora so nicely 676 676