Fairbanks (Chena Hot Springs 2)

I had recovered enough to - unfortunately - wake up at my usual time of 5 AM. I tried to stay up last night as I knew I had two nights coming up when I would need to be awake well past midnight. But no luck. I got some breakfast, then spent some time cleaning up my Lightroom catalogue. That tells you something about the limited options for activities around here. I was actually hungry in the late morning - likely because of the cold - and went back to the dining room to get some lunch. Normally, I would never eat three full meals a day, but I guess the cold really does burn calories.

At 1 PM I had a tour of the Ice Museum. They actually had to close it for repairs recently. We heard that the temperature climbed to 95 degrees over the summer and they just couldn’t maintain the cold, so they had some melt damage. They just recently reopened it. The museum features a number of large sculptures, including an award-winning replica of horses, an igloo and a chapel. There are two bedrooms that the intrepid can book for $600/night. They were pretty to peak into, but no thanks. Aside for the cold, there are no indoor facilities - I think they give you a bucket. A main highlight is the Aurora ice bar, at which they served us Appletinis. David, who I met at the dinner last night, was also on the tour, so we had the opportunity to chat some more. I had just returned from a snow mobile outing during which one of the other people managed to drive his vehicle into a ditch. Oops.

I then, again, took advantage of the hot springs, after which I returned to my room to download and process the few images I took in the Ice Museum. The lighting was deliberately low, so the quality will be compromised, no help for it. I’m not good at naps, but I tried to rest in anticipation of the upcoming 9:30 PM-2:30 AM aurora viewing tour. I did not have high hopes as the skies were completely clouded over all day and the prediction was for that to last.

As we were heading out at 9:30 PM, it looked like the skies were clearing a bit. The three-quarter moon was shining brightly (maybe a bit too brightly) and some stars were visible. A half hour ride on caterpillar type vehicles brought us to the top of a peak that was away from the lights and had a clear view of the north sky. At the top was a heated yurt and they had snacks and hot drinks for us. Although no color was obviously visible, I set up the camera to at least test things like focus and exposure. One of our group was very persistent and seemed more knowledgeable than the rest of us. He (I’ll get his name tonight) is also young with good eyesight. He kept saying he saw faint color, so I took a few images just for fun. As the night /morning proceeded, the cloud cover increased and the last hour was mostly waiting it out on the chance we might get a surprise show. At 2 AM we packed it in.

I was able to sleep in until almost 8 AM. Still not enough sleep, but a nap should be possible today. Only after several cups of coffee and a mid-morning breakfast did I bother to download my images. I truly expected to just delete them all. I was pleasantly surprised to see a decent green glow in some of them. Not a full on aurora curtain, but enough to get a better understanding of the situation. I am very glad I did what I hope was a dry run as I see what I need to correct. One of the main challenges for night photography is focus. I thought I was focused correctly on the foreground trees, but I see from the images that the focus was off. Something to triple check tonight. I also now understand that the camera sees much more of this type of light than the eye. You can read about that as much as you want, but until you have the kinesthetic experience, it doesn’t really make sense. That understanding will really help me to adjust the exposure settings tonight. Finally, I could see I was getting light leakage from the moon. Tonight I will set up at an angle that puts the moon at my back rather than getting the light from the side.

A strong solar storm is predicted tonight, but all will depend on the cloud cover. Tomorrow is predicted to be clear. Fingers crossed that the clearing actually starts late tonight / early tomorrow morning. Stay tuned......