Tonight the ice fog lifted in time to catch a brief glimpse of the northern lights. Wicked temperature changes from -6 oC to -30 oC within a couple of days have actually created some wild weather patterns which included a thick blanket of ice fog that blocked our view of the evening sky. With my camera bag and tripod handy it only took a few seconds to set up my gear to capture tonight's lights. I couldn't help but stare in awe at these celestial night shows.

Photo details: Nikon D700, Nikkor lens 14-24mm f/2.8 1000ASA 10secs.

Photo details: Nikon D3, Lens Nikon 14-24 mm, ISO 2000, 30s exposure, 04.01.2010 22.51 UT

The aurora started off as a faint whitish green color that almost looked like a distant cloud. Then a dominant band stayed in the northeast sky with a couple substorms that brought pulsing curtains for a few minutes before the activity weakened again. The activity began around 11pm and ended around 2:30 am. The temperature outside was around 30 below zero at the time the photographs were taken. BRRRR!

Photo details: Nikon D50, 200 ASA, 15 to 25 sec exposure. Most photos were taken with a 20mm lens with a f-stop of 2.5. A few photos were taken with a 50mm lens and a f-stop of 1.8.

New Year lights over Pangnirtung, Nunavut. Finally, after a few cloudy days and a 4 day blizzard the skies cleared tonight to reveal the first auroral display of 2010. Mild temperatures at this time of year created a heavy ice fog which blanketed the community while the aurora danced over head. A couple kids came over to me to investigate what I was doing and within a few minutes they were trying their hands at northern lights photography - we even played with the flashlight to write 2010. Here's to more astronomical wonders for the year ahead.

Weak continuous aurora, but active movement.

Photo details: Nikon D3, 14-24mm f.28 @ 6 secs, ISO 1600