Aurora Borealis, Arctic Circle, Alaska #3376

Every March for the past five years I have headed up to the Arctic in search of images of the Northern Lights. I usually travel up the Dalton Highway, the road that was built along the pipeline corridor to support the building and continuous upkeep of the Alaska oil pipeline. My favorite place to photograph the northern lights is at a pullout about 90 miles north of the Arctic Circle. The strength of the northern lights is calculated by the KP index which measures the global strength of a geomagnetic event that creates the northern lights. The KP scale goes from 0 to 9 with 0 being extremely quiet to 9 being an extreme storm. On this particular night the KP index showed a 6 which is the highest I have ever seen. Usually, I adjust my camera by the light from my headlamp, but for a short while the yellow-green lights were so strong I set my settings by the light of the aurora. The light was so incredible that my skinny stick-figure-self cast a shadow lit only by the light of the Aurora. I never, ever imagined the possibility of an aurora shadow. Once again, nature left me speechless and spellbound. This photo illustrates the month of December in my Alaska 2021 Calendar. Both the 2021 Juneau and Alaska Calendars can be ordered on my website or purchased locally at Hearthside Books, Juneau Artist Gallery, Ben Franklin Variety Store, Alaskan Brewing Tasting Room, Super Bear IGA and Foodland IGA. Thank you for visiting and be well – Camera: #Nikon #D850, Lens: # Nikkor 24-70mm, Digital Capture, Tripod ©Mark Kelley