The Greatest Night Of My Life

in photography •  7 years ago 

This was one of the greatest nights of my life. After a long winter of bad luck and cloudy skies, this night couldn't have happened any better. @dimitri0610 and I witnessed some of the strongest auroral activity we had ever seen.

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Part 1: Knik River

We embarked from town at 10PM and headed north. A long night lay ahead of us as we planned to drive almost three hours to a viewpoint of the largest mountain in North America, Denali. As we drove, a faint green haze began to form overhead. We stopped at the Knik River Bridge to capture it.

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Part 2: The Corona

We then began our drive north. What followed was one of the greatest displays of Auroral activity I have ever seen. A coronal mass ejection occurs when a significant amount of plasma and magnetic field is propelled from the sun towards earth. It is hard to truly explain what happens when a corona strikes, but I can confidently say it is one of the most awe inspiring experiences you will ever be a part of.

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Part 3: Denali Viewpoint

Our last stop was a small viewpoint located just off the highway. It offered unrestricted views of the mountain but also allowed a heavy wind to bombard us. Nevertheless we braved the cold and witnessed the lights slowly fade away over the tallest mountain in North America.

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This night is one I will remember forever. We left at 10PM and didn't return until after 7AM when the sun began to rise. A night like this makes all of the other nights where I didn't see anything, worth it. Nights like this rekindle the determination to put in the effort to see the Aurora, more than anything else.

Thank you so much for reading and supporting my work. I hope these photos inspired you to get out and explore. These are some of my favorite pictures I have ever taken of the aurora. If you find them inspiring, please consider resteeming :) If you have questions about capturing the aurora or Alaska in general, I'd love to answer them!

Also, you still have time to enter to win 5 SBD!

-- Chase

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Amazing place and amazing shot. I love it and I'm jealous. I got to go, that is a must on my bucket list.

Your work is truly amazing ! i wish i was there, unfortunately i am far far away...

So crazy dude. I dream of seeing the aurora with this intensity someday

Sounds like an awesome night indeed, and you caught Steve!

breathtaking. that´s like really one thing I want to see before I go! 😁

Wow. Absolutely phenomenal. This post needs to 🚀 (resteemed!)

this is awesome, such an Aurora , so so so beautiful. Looks more like the images i see in Avater movie or pokahunters cartoon. the photos are excellent. what kind of camera did you use for such? thanks for sharing. upped

Dude these are freaking amazing shots

Worth every lost hour of sleep. My God what a display. The colour is exquisite. Beautiful work

I am speechless... I´ve never saw auroral activity in real life just in movies like every other one.

This is really amazing! Thank you so much for sharing these beautiful pictures with us.

Did you changed any special settings on your camera for these awesome pictures?

I'm speechless. That's epic. Just epic man.

wow that beautiful keep the good work going

Great photos. I'd like to see that one day.

What was the date you went out to capture this? On 16th March I was able to capture some in Estonia as well but nothing quite like it you saw. Stunning visuals in the sky!

By seeing these pictures I can totally understand what you mean by saying: One of the most awe inspiring experiences you will ever be a part of. These pictures are amazing. You must be so lucky with these weather circumstances

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Magic images.. and would be so cool to see that in real life.. one day... but the best day in my life was when my ex partner walked into my life 28 years ago and the worse day in my life was when they left 7 weeks ago... so now I have to create a new best day in my life and this looks like a good start.

The flaring spike you caught on one of the photograph has officially been reported and studied by scientists lately, a rather unusual phenomena that had been reported but not studied enough yet... You shots are pretty darn cool and what a delight to be camping in the area to witness such display of grandeur! Glad you had such a good time. If you can, the following nights should be pretty amazing for even brighter and much more colourful auroras, either borealis or australis!

May you be blessed with their reds, blues, and violets, it blows one's mind!

Thanks again for this magnificent sharing. Namaste :)

Amazing photos! I cant wait to see the Northern lights for real!

wow! that's a great visual! hope to see that personally soon! :)

@chaseburnett How luky you were, it is as if you were chosen to see that spectacle. The pictures seem like from an outer world. The CME is thought to be very dangerous if it points to the south because can affect the electric circuits but to the north it rebounds. Congratulations for your post and for your experience

Wow....You've been so lucky! Wish I could experince this at least one in my life!! Idk what to say...I'm really amazed :)

Stunning!

Wow, these photos are really magical and cool. The night looks so clear and to just see all those stars would be awesome...so many I thought there was dust all over my screen!