The Aurora Crashes my Milky Way Party

Every year as spring starts, I start paying close attention to the weather in Eastern Washington, a few hours from where I live. One reason is that usually by March or so I’m tired of the rain and cold in the Seattle area, and an escape over the mountains can be about as much of a temperature jump as hopping on a plane to California. But the real reason is that Milky Way season starts in my part of the world, and during the spring, Eastern Washington is the best place to see it. The Milky Way rises from the east at this time of year, and Eastern Washington’s dark skies, drier weather, and clear eastern horizon make it just about perfect.

There’s definitely an ideal time where the Milky Way’s rise time, the amount of darkness, the weather, and my availability all come together. This year, that time was at the very end of March, a little later than usual because of the weather this year, and if I’m being honest, my very busy schedule. With this in mind, I noticed a clear weather window a few days out, and so I cleared my calendar, packed up my stuff, and prepared The Machine (what I call my 4Runner) for a back seat bivouac. The plan was set - leave in the afternoon, scout a location, get some sleep, wake up about 2am, shoot until dawn, and drive back home. Perfect!

Of course, Mother Nature likes to throw curveballs, and sometimes those aren’t welcome (like rain, wind, locusts, and the various other plagues of Egypt). This time, however, she threw a good one - the aurora was predicted to make an appearance due to a confluence of factors including several solar flares in a few days. Even better, the aurora was predicted to arrive the night I was going to be out shooting Milky Way! This necessitated a slight change in plans, because I needed a location that would offer both a northern view for the aurora and an eastern view for the Milky Way. I also wanted something that would bring light into my images, like a lake reflection, since it was a new moon. Of course, shooting aurora all night and Milky Way before dawn would mean sacrificing some sleep, but that’s a small price to pay for a fun night shooting!

After scouting locations, I settled on the Quincy Lakes area, near the Gorge Amphitheater. This area is part of the scablands and has a bunch of large lakes settled into basins surrounded by basalt columns. I had been here twice before, once to visit Ancient Lakes in the lower part, and another time chasing aurora, but never gave it the upper area with the big lakes a proper exploration in the daylight. So, I altered my plan to leave a few hours earlier, and was able to scout out a great location that met my north and east view criteria, and also was a great place to camp.

After scouting my shots, I settled in with a book and a dehydrated meal for dinner and enjoyed the views. Or at least I tried to - the wind was fierce, and the temperature was dropping. It was getting quite cold but not quite dark yet, so I decided a power nap in the back of the truck was in order. I retreated to the back and scrolled the various aurora watching Facebook groups while attempting to get 10 minutes of sleep, as I knew I’d need it. After a while, just as it was getting dark and the wind was dying down, I spotted a strong uptick in the solar wind data, alongside a couple of pictures of a faint aurora, so I hustled it out of the car and down to the lake!

Earlier this year, I picked up a new Canon R5, and I had that plus the RF 15-35/2.8L IS mounted as my ready camera. These cameras have pretty remarkable electronic viewfinders, and will try to show you what your exposure looks like before you shoot. I knew this, but was still confused by what I was seeing in the EVF - green and red bands of color in the sky to the north. I quickly realized that the exposure simulator was showing me the aurora and its color, so I hustled and started shooting as fast as I could! For about 20 minutes, I was treated to some great displays to the north, with lots of different colors and forms changing pretty rapidly. It was a fun show, and the lake was calm enough by this point to offer a lovely set of reflections.

After a while, the aurora died off, as it usually comes in ebbs and flows. I waited a while and set up a timelapse on my Canon R, while I periodically checked with the R5 for more aurora. About 10:30pm, the aurora came back for about 5 minutes, but not as strongly as before. Still, I was ready enough to be able to capture a couple of frames with the power lines in front, which I really liked. Strong aurora storms can negatively impact power grids, and I liked the underlying story with the power lines in the shot. The show this evening also had a lot of pink and red, which I really like. The pink and red colors are produced at the top of the auroral curtains, and so when you see a show like this, it’s usually for a weaker show, but nonetheless is really colorful!

The aurora faded again, but I was still set up and continued to wait a while. At this point though, I was facing two problems. First, the solar wind data did not look promising for continued strong aurora that night. Typically, I look for a strong south Bz and a high solar wind density, but neither of these looked good. Still, successful aurora hunting requires perseverance, and I was prepared to be patient. The second problem was that the night was getting later, and it was getting closer to Milky Way time. I was hoping to get a little bit of sleep at least so I was functional the next day. About midnight, the solar wind data really started looking blah, so I called it and grabbed a few hours of shut eye.

I woke up again around 2am and was pleased to see the Milky Way in position, so back down to the lake I went to start shooting. I brought my tracking mount, but this scene was really about a panorama, so I set up and started shooting that. The lake was perfectly calm and still, without a breath of wind, and it was amazing to be back out under the starts for another Milky Way season. I shot a couple of panoramas by the lake, and tried to incorporate the faint glow of the weak aurora into the shot, but wasn’t terribly satisfied with what I was getting, so I went back up and put my 4Runner in the shot. I really liked how this turned out!

After a while, I was getting tired and it was starting to get light, so back into the truck I went for some more shut eye. As usual, I was woken up by the sun blaring in the window, and it was time to head back home. I was very happy with the images I managed to capture, even if I didn’t get as much Milky Way as I wanted.

Anyway, I’m stoked for Milky Way season, and I hope you are too. If you need to brush up on your skills before the season really gets going, be sure to check out my Milky Way Photography Book or the free night sky shooting resources I have. Let me know if you have any questions, and maybe I’ll see you out there!