December 26, 2002

Looking northwest.  ~9:30 p.m.  I could see a faint red in the northwest sky at that time.  The film easily picked it up.  

Left - looking directly east.  Right - looking west-northwest.  ~9:45 p.m.

Looking north.  ~9:45 p.m.  A defined arc forms on the bottom edge of the display.

Looking north-northeast.  ~9:55 p.m.  This is the start of an aurora breakup.  Activity was intense and quick.  Movements were from west to east (left to right).  I could easily see a purple color on the bottom edge of the display, which was picked up on the film.  The rays, swirls and movements were stunningly beautiful.

Looking north-northeast at a rayed arc.  ~9:55 p.m.  The rays seen here lasted only a couple of seconds.  This was a difficult scene to photograph.  Anything over 4 seconds would have been a "smudge."  I limited photographs from 1 to 4 seconds, depending on the activity.  Also, I should have used a 50 mm lens (rather than a 28 mm lens) for this display, but I had no time to change lens.

Left - looking north-northeast.   ~9:55 p.m.  This display - which short - is by far my favorite in my three years of viewing the aurora.  Right - Looking north at numerous faint rays.  ~10:15 p.m.

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