Seeing the Aurora Borealis, also called the Northern Lights, was on our bucket list. While we were camped in Fairbanks, MFI downloaded the My Aurora Forecast app to help us know when and where to look during our remaining 2 and 1/2 months in Alaska and northwestern Canada. It was not something we checked on a daily basis; however, when we noticed clear skies were forecast for overnight, we tried to remember to peek when we got up to pee. We’d seen some beautiful star-filled skies, but we were ready to leave Inuvik and still hadn’t seen the aurora.

So, what causes the aurora? According to northern lights expert, Dr. John Mason, MBE, the sun releases electrically charged particles as a result of solar flares. These particles travel 92 million miles on solar winds until they collide with Earth’s magnetic field. There the electrons sideswipe oxygen and nitrogen molecules in our atmosphere. This causes some electrons to return to their lower energy state by releasing photons (light particles) called aurorae, which then almost magically highlight the movement of magnetic field lines. We knew that 2024 was a particularly active year for solar activity, and this gave us high hopes.

Before turning in for our last night in Inuvik, MFI checked her app and saw we might get lucky, so we agreed to check the night sky when we got up to pee. At 12:27 AM on August 28th, I was startled from a sound asleep when MFI slammed Arthur’s door and screamed, “Get up, get up.” I threw on my robe, grabbed my phone, and stumbled outside. Without ever leaving the front of Arthur, this was what we captured.

The aurora was lighting the sky between the west and east horizons. We took pictures and videos for the better part of 20 minutes, but I believe we could have been held spellbound for an hour or more. We saw reds, as well, but my cellphone camera disappointingly didn’t pick them up.

I took videos so readers could see the movement of the aurora. I’ve watched them many times now and still see new things happening. We were amazed at how quickly the lights sometimes appeared or disappeared. In the longer video, there were three flashes similar to lightning, but we weren’t sure whether this was natural or human-caused. You should be able to hear in the background the hum of the power plant generators depending on which direction my phone mic was pointed. Occasionally, you can also hear the voices of what sounded like children in town enjoying the spectacle.

During our visit to the planetarium in Watson Lake’s Northern Lights Center, we had watched a video of the Northern Lights filmed from Yellowknife, NT. I remembered us both, along with the other tourists, ooohing and aaahing at the dance of the aurora on the domed screen above us. This sensational show was in large part a result of professional filmers using professional equipment to create a movie shown on the latest high-technology projectors. Sorry, but this was a good as I could do using my iPhone 13 Pro.