Northern lights in Alaska

​Like most people, seeing the northern lights was always on my bucket list. Seeing photos of them on the internet always blew my mind that such a beautiful natural phenomenon could even exist. I had the chance to visit Alaska (Fairbanks and Coldfoot) last month in March during the week of the new moon to witness this amazing spectacle firsthand. There are very few things in the world as mesmerizing as watching the elusive aurora borealis dancing and swirling above your head.

​Our trip ​to Alaska was definitely one of our most challenging trips. Not only was it outrageously cold (the lowest we encountered was -25°F), but it was also very tiring in that we needed to stay up every night until 2-3AM to wait for auroras. The movement (dancing) of auroras can vary, and spurts of activity can last anywhere from just a few minutes to hours. Since my fiancé is a photographer, he had to be ready to capture the auroras whenever and wherever it showed up in the night sky. Prior to our trip, we also had to purchase an entire set of winter clothing that could handle waiting around outside for hours in subzero temperatures. There was also a lot of research that needed to be done for the best viewing spots.

Twelve Mile Summit on Steese Highway near Fairbanks, AK. 

​The timing of our trip was also tricky. In short, northern (and southern) lights are caused ​by solar activity and magnetic particles shot out by our sun that hits Earth's magnetic field. Our sun goes through 11-year cycles from very little activity (solar minimum) to high activity (solar maximum). NASA predicted that 2013 would be the year of solar maximum, but that doesn't guarantee you will see a good show on any given night. There still could be weeks with little solar activity and the weather also needs to cooperate. The sun could also produce flares that are not aimed at Earth! I booked our flights six months before our trip and crossed my fingers that somehow it would all work out. Thankfully, we were extremely lucky that during our week there, the sun gave off two Earth-directed explosions that created some of the most stunning aurora displays of the season.

Wiseman, AK. We did a 3-day tour with Northern Alaska Tour Company to Coldfoot, past the Arctic Circle. Each night we went on an excursion to see the auroras in Wiseman. This photo was taken the first night when there was a huge spurt of activity that lasted about 3 minutes. Albeit short-lived, those 3 minutes I will remember for the rest of my life. People were squealing with joy as the fireworks-like display danced above us.

Twelve Mile Summit on Steese Highway near Fairbanks, AK. I named this one "MEGA SWIRL" :)

Two days before our trip ended, we read on Spaceweather.com that the sun produced a massive solar flare whose particles would reach Earth in about 2 days that could potentially result in a geomagnetic storm. We were stoked and anxiously awaited the arrival of the storm, though we were unsure whether or not we would be able to catch it in time. Just two hours before our flight home that departed at 1:00AM on March 17th, we patiently waited on Ester Dome. Luckily, out of nowhere around 11:00PM, the sky started filling up with auroras with the most movement we had seen that week. The twirling and the dancing lasted nearly the entire hour, right before we needed to head to the airport. 

Ester Dome in Fairbanks, AK

We later realized we made the most idiotic mistake of deciding to NOT miss our flight home, because we learned that the auroras became even better later that night and seeing auroras at that intensity is a rare event. D'oh!! But I'm still very thankful that the stars were aligned (quite literally) for us to catch this epic display, which we later learned from other aurora hunters that it was the best display they had seen in years!

Ester Dome in Fairbanks, AK

Tips

• Spaceweather.com and 3D Sun are great for monitoring solar activity
• Time is your most valuable asset for aurora viewing. The longer you wait and the more nights you try, the higher the chances you will see good shows.
• What to wear