
Central Minnesota Aurora

by Alex Blondeau
Title
Central Minnesota Aurora
Artist
Alex Blondeau
Medium
Photograph
Description
The conditions were perfect. This was the largest coronal mass ejection that had been aimed directly at earth in a decade. But I was tired, and the action was probably not going to start until after midnight. Lucky my social media chatter about the event attracted two friends of mine who were itching to see the auroras.
We set out for the darkest sky we could find down a minimum maintenance road past a sign that read: "Most people meet the Lord through prayer, but trespassing is quicker." We parked the vehicle and set out to do some recon. As we made our way through the chilly March darkness someone said, "What left these tracks? They're huge!" About then there was a thundering sound off to our right and the sound of a large body crashing through the brush. Our headlamps reflected in giant eyes as the beast lunged past us… A horse, unencumbered by a fence.
We set up near a field and the glow on the horizon briefly intensified into shimmering pillars of light before returning to a slowly fading glow for the next few hours. The rest of the night passed without event, aside from a somewhat confused encounter with a local man in his skid-steer at quarter to 1:00 in the morning. A perfect night.
Uploaded
March 18th, 2015
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Comments (20)

RSVPalmer
this is great!, -you feel like you're there - great composition, color balance and perhaps some mysterious surroundings . . .

Shar Schermer
Absolutely beautiful. Would love to see the Northern Lights in person, but you captured this wonderfully.