AURORA BOREALIS(Northern lights)  – Fairbanks : On top of my Bucket List.

It’s been a while since I had the privilege and luck to witness the magical and magnificent Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis ) this March’2024.

A very impromptu plan to visit Fairbanks… checking randomly on the App AccuWeather ..showing bright sunny days on March 9^th, 10^th, 11^th. Gotten busy as usual other than checking weather forecast. Then closer to the travel, we saw weather kept changing from snowing, to cloudy to sunny.  Never mind…’If you never go, you will never know’. And as always we kept micro planning after we had started from house..seated in the car…MOBILE comes handy ALWAYS!!

The adventure initiated on March 8^th … praying to witness Aurora from flight at midnight…not to our luck still.  We had booked with a tour operator for next three days at Murphy Dome, Fairbanks, one of the most favorable spots to watch Aurora Borealis. Someone quite poetically explained…It’s the colours (Solar wind) painted by the brush (Earth’s magnetic Field) on the huge canvas (Earth’s upper atmosphere) creating the beautiful DYNAMIC AURORA.. yes…All three components are dynamic too. The vibrance of colors…the boldness of strokes…come alive on the canvas (cloudy to dark-clear sky).

We did a pilot check in the morning of March 9^th to Murphy Dome from our hotel …It was snowing at -10 deg C while driving on snow for the first time…May be 3 cars and 2 pedestrians in a 90-minute journey of 50 miles , considering the loop a little beyond few miles of our hotel.  It felt like driving within picture postcards.  The chasing and watching Northern lights stretches much beyond the actual climax… It is the whole adventure, the experience in totality.

We stayed in the tour operator’s warm dome shelter both on 9^th and 10^th between 10 pm to 2 am. Enjoyed company of many like us over hot drinks and food.  Went out every 30 minute in -22 deg C to have a real time check with bare eyes and through camera.  Inside the cabin, the App didn’t lie about cloud coverage and low activity in that zone.  Our guide showed us faint luminous sky through camera ..which was not quite impactful!!

We had a plan to visit Chena Hot Spring on 11^th.  Coincidentally App showed better viewing chances from Chena Hot Spring area.  We decided to skip Murphy Dome and stayed back at Chena resort.. there was no time limit ….made ourselves comfortable in the viewing room from sundown time. occasionally going out under the sky and chill….. As dark night gradually fell …lots of bright stars in layers increased the hope to finally witness the Aurora Borealis… A very big glass view room…lights were put off to avoid reflections/interference and to be able to see clear view of sky from within the room…a heart-thumping wait…people across ages patiently waiting for nature to offer that spell and then….someone declared IT IS VISIBLE …went outside to witness a greenish/reddish illumination …came more alive in camera. Our joy knew no bounds…Could at least see a Kp Index of 2. It was freezing cold at -20 deg C …We excitedly joined our daughter and their friends … managed a photo as you see above.. Around 3:30 am we started driving towards Fairbanks…witnessing purplish pink sky at times….could see only two cars on the way.. pulled over at a shoulder….trying to catch a glimpse… We were driving those 62 miles one way with a concoction of feeling, apprehensive of the time, place, pin drop silence other than the sound of our car with no people around … heading towards Fairbanks.

Flight was around 1 am on March 13th, the day of return …another chance! from the airport or flight ????…App showed a better viewing forecast.. checked into the airport a bit early around 10 pm to avoid late night commuting. As we sat after security check ..I got messages and pictures from Rusha (our daughter) in WhatsApp that there was high activity viewing ..going on ..they were chasing around.  I checked in my phone….For the first time beautiful yellowish dynamic waves on earth’s image in the App…I quickly set my mind…I have to go out of airport and utilize our precious 90 minutes in hand..convinced Saibal…Went outside the airport ( Not to forget, we needed to put the layers back along with gloves, headcover) with cabin luggage in hands…Fortunately one cab was waiting outside to our rescue..called him and asked to take us to ‘Creamer’s field’ which was 20-minute away’…calculating time and viewing chance.  The driver surprised us with his immense exposure about Aurora Borealis (Northern Light) viewing in Fairbanks ( Our experience was that… not ALL are so conversant)…He guided that creamer’s field would have light pollution. And then just drove for 3 to 4 minutes and pulled his cab in a dark location.  AND there it was ….We saw dancing vibrant green waves in the sky taking shapes..the driver mentioned it is 3 to 4 Kp Index…’He added, ‘It is visible even from airport with all runway lights, when Kp Index is 6’……Never mind the information….Those 15-minute will always remain as a treasure in my mind…freezing cold even to take out the camera…My phone showed low battery( followed App continuously)..And having scary experience in India of stolen laptop from cab….kept constant eye on the cab driver as he went back and sat inside the cab due to the freezing temperature where our cabin luggage were left . I was scolded later by my daughter for the mindset…it seems we need not worry so much in USA???……Getting back to our extraordinary experience beyond mundane social thoughts…..Saibal took some pics though, as posted here.. We both were completely awestruck and skipped special iPhone settings for pictures to treasure physically !!… However, came back to airport with gratitude-filled heart! It was truly abundant luck!

I wanted to document my experience so that I can relive those moments of JOY!

Lots of take aways beyond internet research and google search…The latitude of Fairbank is around 64 deg…Some tourists witnessed the NL of Kp Index 4-5 at arctic circle (67 deg N latitude) even on March 10^th when Murphy dome had KP Index 1.

I repeat , it is the colors of solar wind(Solar storm), painted by the brush (geomagnetic field )on the canvas of night sky(local atmosphere)!!

A car with full gas…and fully charged cell phone on a dark starry night with high solar storm in geomagnetic field ….can help you chase and ensure best view if you are without guides…Go outside light pollution…on a starry starry night!!

All the best to you ALL..Make plans..Witness..Share your EXPERIENCE …Spread the JOY!!..Pass on the BATON !!