Aurora Borealis

Dynamic display of multicoloured luminosity 

Earlier in the month of October, the evening of the 10th to be exact, Canmore experienced a breathtaking display of the Northern Lights, formally known as Aurora Borealis.

What exactly is the Aurora Borealis? The northern lights, or aurora borealis, are a dynamic display of multicoloured luminosity appearing in the day or night sky in the high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. When a solar storm comes toward us, some of the energy and small particles can travel down the magnetic field lines at the north and south poles into Earth’s atmosphere. There, the particles interact with gases in our atmosphere resulting in beautiful displays of light in the sky. Oxygen gives off green and red light.

I got a number of photographs, all taken from the back porch of our home. My first photograph today was taken facing northwest, incorporating a view of our neighbourhood and the mountains along the left side of the image.

This scene was taken looking to the west, including mountain peaks directly behind our home, Ha Ling Peak and the East End of Rundle (EEOR).

I took this photograph pointing directly overhead, featuring a better view of the stars in the background behind the “dancing lights”, as they’re often described.

Rotating the camera toward the southwest, I included mountain peaks of the Ehagay Nakoda Massif, the indigenous name for this range of four mountains.

I was pleased to capture this amazing spectacle. I’ve seen the northern lights on other occasions, once from an aircraft traveling from Fort Mc Murray to Calgary. Wow! Quite a sight from 35,000 ft of altitude. As a teenager, living in Sept Iles, Quebec at the time, I was often treated to the Aurora Borealis, a more frequent occurrence in that part of Canada.