Northern Lights Over Grand Teton National Park

The Aurora Borealis (aka Northern Lights) glow on the horizon in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming.

I normally wouldn’t post this late at night, but I’m too excited about this one. When I was a kid there was a big solar storm and supposedly we could see the Aurora Borealis all the way down in New Orleans, Louisiana. I didn’t see the bright lights that you see in the photos so I was a little disappointed and shrugged it off, not actually taking a close look. Then I had another chance during the summer of 2004 in British Columbia, but had the same feelings then as I did when I was a kid since it was only my second time to see them. Shortly thereafter I realized how silly I was being and regretted not at least trying to get a shot of them in British Columbia. Since then I’ve been hoping for a sight of them at some point but never have had the opportunity. I moved to Jackson, Wyoming in November and was anxious at the prospect of potentially seeing them that winter. Winter came and went, however, and I still had no sightings. Tonight though, I was working on some photos and noticed on Twitter another photographer seeing the Northern Lights above Lake Huron. I checked the Northern Lights forecast and saw that there was indeed high activity for the short-term period. I rushed out to my car, looked north and sure enough, saw a faint but noticeable glow. I headed up into Grand Teton National Park to try and position them over the mountains. All sorts of other ideas started going through my head for other compositions and locations but I decided to save those for when the Auroras are a bit farther south.

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