Great Northern Lights, Lousy Pictures

Saturday night we were coming home late and instead of pulling into our street, we went to the top of the hill near our home. There was a faint green glow on the horizon the quickly defined itself as the Northern Lights.

A quick check on my phone showed me were suppose to get some strong displays.

We ran home and got the camera and drove to a nearby open area. Overhead the lights were a beautiful green running and looping across the sky. But as my luck usually goes, by the time I got the camera set up, they had faded to a dim line you see in the first two pictures.

We set there for over an hour waiting for the lights to come back. It was about 10º outside and I only had on a light jacket. I finally gave up and ran to get some gas.

 By the time we got back to the spot 20 minuets later, the sky was lit up. Most of the displays were overhead and to the south. I don't have the best camera set up, so my photos are not anywhere near as spectacular as being there.

 This was the view directly overhead. It was amazing.

 The bright spot towards the bottom was the sliver of moon that was visible.

 To get these shots, I set my camera shutter to stay open for a long time. The challenge is to hold is steady. I have a mini-tripod set up on the hood of the truck, but when the lights are overhead that set up doesn't always work.

The camera was moving in this shot. The white light is the moon and the yellow light is a yard light on a nearby building.