Aurora Surprise

The northern lights or aurora borealis appears above British Columbia, Canada. Note the 7 bright stars of Ursa Major which form the famous asterism Big Dipper. Polaris is also visible at top. As noted by the photographer “I was camping on my birthday night with my family and friends at Burton Historical Park. I noticed there were so many light pillars on the North were there is no town. I quickly pointed my camera toward the north and I was so surprised not only of the sudden aurora activity also of the colors captured in the camera! Visually I could barely see any color, just many vertical lines in white light.” Click on the second photo to see another image of this scene where aurora is very faint but a bright meteor with a very short trail is captured.