I know it was a few months ago, but I got to experience the Northern Lights in my backyard¹. I’ve had this on my bucket list for a long time.

While I was streaming one night², I saw several social media posts of people right here in Columbus, Ohio posting pictures of the aurora. I got mad FOMO and bailed on my stream and recruited some friends to head up north where there’s less light pollution to see them.

While I did see them, they were faint to the naked eye. Using just my basic human eyes, it almost looked like light pollution. But when a modern-day camera on a phone or fancy mirrorless camera, and they really did pop.

My only regret is that I didn’t bring my intervalometer³ to capture a timelapse. I did manage to make a three frame animation that really captures the movement.

The next day, the aurora forecast for the next night was optimistic as well, so I was ready to scout a location and bring multiple cameras. However, it didn’t pan out, and I wasn’t able to capture a cool timelapse.

While it was on my bucket, and I did technically see it, I’m not marking it off yet. I would love to see the aurora with my special eyes⁴ and not primarily through a camera. I’m delighted I’ve experienced both this, and a total solar eclipse in 2024. What’s next? The apocalypse? I’ll make sure to have my camera ready.

1. Technically it was a field up near Delaware, OH ↩
2. Shoutout to the real Jarbochov fans. twitch.tv/jarbochov ↩
3. A device which you can set the frequency, duration, and number of intervals on a DSLR or mirrorless camera. Some cameras have a timelapse mode built in, but often they automatically compress the pictures into a video and not at the highest quality output of the camera. ↩
4. MY BRAND! ↩