Midnight at Meadowlark
Midnight at Meadowlark
Darkness could not come soon enough. Reports of the northern lights were coming in from across the eastern US. Standing on a cliff nearly 1,000 feet above Meadowlark Lake, this was a spot I’d been wanting to spend the night for a long time. The highest peaks of the Bighorn Mountains stood to the north, including Cloud Peak dead center. Aurora chasing mostly involves a whole lot of waiting. Waiting for the right space weather forecast, clear skies, moon phase, and for the sun to go down. Even when conditions seem perfect the aurora can come and go at the drop of a hat. When darkness arrived, so did the clouds, along with a brief rain shower. When the clouds faded, so did the northern lights. But finally just before 1AM the glow returned. A substorm sent red and purple pillars halfway to the North Star, reflected in the water far below. It did not last long before the moon rose and drowned out the lights. Even though the display wasn’t as good as it could have been, moments like this are always worth staying up for.
- Copyright
- Kevin Palmer
- Image Size
- 5792x3854 / 13.8MB
- Keywords
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night, dark, midnight, sky, stars, starry, space, astronomy, astrophotography, aurora, aurora borealis, northern lights, geomagnetic storm, color, colorful, pink, red, purple, green, glow, north, reflection, water, trees, Cloud Peak, clouds, Meadowlark Lake, Bighorn Mountains, Wyoming, July, summer, 2022, nikon D780