Lynn Clauer
My nephew and I had planned a week of night sky adventure in hopes of an aurora in Alberta ~ weather forecasts for the area were disappointingly cloudy, but the skies cleared about an hour north of Edmonton. Our first plan (using various tools to scout with no time to visit) turned out to be in the middle of a reservation and not feeling comfortable with the intrusion, we headed north and noticed a sign for West Cove, which sounded like water, and found a boat launch. The first night was a simple arc of aurora with clouds. Two nights later, it cleared again and we knew just where to head. We were treated to this magic cathedral of light. The mist over the lake muted some of the shoreline lights and made the island look like a mystical kingdom. The dance went on for hours and the feeling it evoked was profound. The KP index (that often indicates the strength of an aurora) was 4 to 5. I was happy to capture both stars and aurora. As a side note: On my last night, my brother came with me (my nephew had to work) ~ we were just thinking we should bag it and the lights danced at KP 7. It was overhead in every direction like it was swallowing us (unfortunately where my tripod didn’t do it justice even with my widest lens ~ it looked way cooler with the lake as foreground)
See more of Lynn’s work by visiting her website.