Serendipity
Gooseberry SAR on 9/26/2022 at 9pm
The plan was to shoot the setting Milky Way core over Middle Falls, but my first few shots kept picking up a deep, red glow near zenith. I looked and looked but could not find the source of this red light.
Finally, I realized what must be happening. Though I couldn't see it, one heck of an aurora must have flared up. Luckily, I was only a few minutes away from the perfect location. I tossed my original plans for the evening and scampered down the trail.
Setting up at the Gooseberry Falls overlook, my camera easily picked up the deep red glow in the sky. But it was all red. While the aurora can be red, it usually has other colors. This was something different.
Later that night, I learned that I had captured a SAR event ... a Stable Auroral Red arc. While the name says aurora, it's something completely different. It's also usually invisible to the naked eye (as it was that night) and somewhat rare.
I couldn't thank my lucky stars enough. Not only did I capture a somewhat rare event, but I had the perfect foreground to frame it. This more than made up for all of those skunked nights where I walked away with nothing. It's also one of the reasons I keep heading out to shoot. You never know when something truly special will happen.
Gooseberry SAR on 9/26/2022 at 9pm
The plan was to shoot the setting Milky Way core over Middle Falls, but my first few shots kept picking up a deep, red glow near zenith. I looked and looked but could not find the source of this red light.
Finally, I realized what must be happening. Though I couldn't see it, one heck of an aurora must have flared up. Luckily, I was only a few minutes away from the perfect location. I tossed my original plans for the evening and scampered down the trail.
Setting up at the Gooseberry Falls overlook, my camera easily picked up the deep red glow in the sky. But it was all red. While the aurora can be red, it usually has other colors. This was something different.
Later that night, I learned that I had captured a SAR event ... a Stable Auroral Red arc. While the name says aurora, it's something completely different. It's also usually invisible to the naked eye (as it was that night) and somewhat rare.
I couldn't thank my lucky stars enough. Not only did I capture a somewhat rare event, but I had the perfect foreground to frame it. This more than made up for all of those skunked nights where I walked away with nothing. It's also one of the reasons I keep heading out to shoot. You never know when something truly special will happen.