Well that’s not exactly true. The aurora borealis, aka "northern lights" can be seen throughout the world but most frequently and with the greatest intensity, within the auroral oval surrounding the earth’s (magnetic) North Pole which largely encompasses much of Alaska. Other areas of the world that frequently have fantastic auroral displays are Canada, Iceland, Greenland, Norway and Siberia. For me, coming to Alaska in the winter had one pay off... to see first hand (and photograph), the aurora borealis!
I arrived to Fairbanks well past midnight, hoping to see the aurora in the sky. While slightly disappointed, I knew that wasn’t really likely. I got to bed around 2:30am, simply beat from the trip. Folks at breakfast said there was a pretty display around 4:30am but at that hour, I was deep into REM sleep. Monday was a dreary snowy day, with a lot of cloud cover around Fairbanks. Given that I needed to be up by 5:00am for my Arctic Drive Tour on Tuesday, I focused on sleep and passed on the aurora. Again, folks tell me it was a nice display... missed another chance. It was good to know that in spite of the cloudy weather during the day in Fairbanks, the nighttime skies were clear and said to have displayed nice auroral activity.
When I returned from the Arctic Drive Tour, I had several e-mail notices from ADEC that the northern lights should be visible tonight--around midnight. I immediately jumped into gear to swap out my camera gear from daytime to nighttime and added a layer of clothing. I thought Cleary Summit would be my best first experience since it’s a well traveled area, with lots of other aurora viewers so that was where I chose to go. I was up on Cleary Summit by 11pm and didn’t have to wait long for the show! The beautiful slow moving aurora danced across the sky from my right, moving left. It was a lovely shade of green, the most common color for the aurora. I took around 100 photos, of which around 20 or 25 were really clear and nice. Some of them weren’t so good because I was parked next to this van of people who were "in and out" and kept turning on their interior and parking lights. Nothing can ruin a nighttime photo that extracurricular lights from the city or the car lights of inconsiderate people.
It was darn cold up there--approximately -20 degree F! Since my rental car had running daytime lights that I didn’t know how to turn off, I struggled to avoid going to the car to warm up while idling the car. Thankfully the air was calm and there was no wind to speak of. After about an hour and 100 photos, I thought it was a productive night, so I headed back to town. In spite of the below zero temps, my camera equipment held up and performed admirably. I had no freeze up or battery kill, so I was good for the entire hour without having to take my camera in to thaw. (I didn’t learn the next morning at breakfast how to turn out the headlights, so that wasn’t a problem for the rest of my aurora trips to Cleary Summit.)
There is a lot available on the Internet to help visitors understand the aurora and to plan for a successful viewing. With decent camera equipment, many are fortunate to capture the experience to share with others. In my case, my preparation became an obsession. I must have read 1,000 pages of literature on the aurora, photographing them and finding the best locations in and around Fairbanks. I also connected with other photographers via online groups. While many were casual amateurs like me, many more were published and nationally recognized photographers and scientists who have captured award winning pictures of the northern lights over Alaska. I felt genuinely blessed to have so many people willing to share their expertise, special viewing areas and friendship with me. I know that without their input and counsel, my photos would not have turned out nearly as good as they did. I also know that I would not have had the right lens (I bought a 14-54mm, f/2.8-3.5 just for this trip) nor would I have been prepared for the typical battery shutdown due to sub-zero temperatures, had I not connected with these wonderful folks.
In order to avoid the risk of plagiarizing some wonderful resources, I am providing website links to some of the better materials I found that helped me in preparing for my trip to Fairbanks:
North Pole Gallery/Kevin McCarthy (North Pole, AK) www.northpolegallery.com/news_show.aspx?news=26
Photographing the Northern Lights With Your DSLR/Roy Hooper (Circle, AK) www.royhooper.ca/articles/aurora.html
Home of the Northern Lights/Jan Curtis (Laramie, WY) http://climate.gi.alaska.edu/Curtis/aurora/aurora.html
Aurora Chasers Website Info (excellent info for those shooting with film cameras) www.aurorachasers.com/PhotographyGuide/index_html
I did most of my aurora viewing and photography up on Cleary Summit. There is a parking area that is atop the summit right at the Skiland turnoff from the Steese Hwy. Each night there were between five and ten cars up there, some to view and others photographing. I felt very comfortable up there, as a woman traveling alone but wasn’t stupid either. When it was just me and one other vehicle, I didn’t stay very long. Fortunately, there was only one evening cut short because folks had left and I was the only person up there outside photographing with another vehicle parked there.
A special treat while at the Fairbanks Visitor Center I found out that they give certificates to anyone who has witnessed the aurora borealis in Fairbanks. It reads: "This is to certify that Yvonne Bennett is an official member of the Latitude 65 Aurora Borealis Club having viewed the northern lights on March 13, 2007 in Fairbanks, Alaska. Signed, Deb Hichoh, President and CEO of the Fairbanks Convention & Visitors Bureau."