Churchill Canada Northern Lights

My wonderful wife Wendy works at Natural Habitat Adventures (they run incredible trips like this one to see the Northern Lights in Churchill, Canada) and she went in Feb/2016. She did a great job taking pictures of the Northern Lights given that it's quite the challenge as their activity is unpredictable, you can be turfed if it isn't clear, the low light levels push the limit of camera technology (especially a vintage 2009 Canon 7D with maximum aperture F/3.5 10-22 lens), and it's typically damn cold (see picture below of -36° with wind-chill to -62°) ... which is tough on cameras and humans! ;-)

Time-lapse of 115 image from Canon 7D at ISO 1600, F/3.5, and 15 second exposure. Here's a nifty video in real-time taken with a much better camera.

Wendy points to the pot-o-gold at the end of the aurora ... ;-)

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Here are some still images Wendy took from various vantage points

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The Inukshuk (a balanced rock formation) is the famous landmark just outside of the town of Churchill, Canada

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Natural Habitat guide Drew Hamilton (great video of him with bears) talks about the Northern Lights and how to best photograph ... and stay warm! ;-)
He also is getting everyone ready to go outside where it is -62° ... unknown if that was Celsius or Fahrenheit ... but does it matter! ;-)

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Wendy smiling in the sun during a brief train stop in Thompson on the way to Churchill

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Wendy with Drew - where does his beard end and the hat begin?!? ;-)

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Wendy gives Curling a shot ... I'm hoping she's on the red team ...

Building an igloo - note Drew in his Hawaiian shirt! ;-)

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Wendy said it was quite warm when you crawled inside

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If you actually see the Northern Lights in person, you may be disappointed as they won't be as spectacular as pictures. First, assuming it's a clear night, you have to be lucky to get an active display - read more & see forecasts here plus technical info from NOAA. Second, the human eye does not see colors well at low light - read this great writeup how cameras show the true colors. Finally, post-processing of the captured images is problematic because there isn't a good color reference (such as skin tones ... and snow isn't white due to the Aurora) so it's subjective how far you "move the sliders" to replicate what you saw ... or would have seen if your eyes were as sensitive to color as the camera is. Lightroom settings were 4500° Color temperature, +100 Clarity, +75 Noise Reduction (1600 ISO is pushing it on the 7D), Camera Standard and +50 Blue Primary Saturation.

Churchill is known as the Polar Bear Capital of the World - check out my report from that awesome trip along plus my Northern Lights pics - not as spectacular as Wendy's.
FYI that in the Northern hemisphere, they are called the Aurora Borealis and in the Southern hemisphere, it's the Aurora Australis. Both are caused by the high energy collisions of the Solar Wind interacting with the Earth's magnetosphere.