Seven 9s and 10s

I just started a night shift job and have been looking for stuff to do in Rochester in the middle of the night (for my days off!) I'd loooove to see the Aurora Borealis- do you know of somewhere on the web that I can regularly check to see if there's activity reported at Lake Ontario?

Asked by emilyrosewords

“…night shift job…”

Hmmm… are you a crime fighter? Batma… err… Catwoman?
That’d be awesome.

Anyway. I have both of these sites bookmarked and I check them somewhat regularly. They can usually provide a few days notice when a severe CME is discovered, giving you a chance to prepare for a viewing:

Good luck!

High-res Aurora Borealis over Lake Ontario (by Steelopus) Sometimes it’s 12:03AM and you’ve got your pajamas on and you’re ready to hop into bed but then you check Twitter one last time and see local meteorologists mentioning Northern Lights activity in the area and so you sit for a minute and try to convince yourself to just go to bed because you have to be at work in less than 8 hours and you really should get some sleep because you’ve been extra tired lately. Then you snap out of it and realize that this kind of opportunity doesn’t happen often. It’s rare enough that the aurora borealis is even visible at this latitude, let alone on an autumn night. It’s even rarer that the conditions are right in the thermosphere while the troposphere is free of clouds - Rochester is, after all, completely overcast an average 200 days per year. So you quickly throw some clothes on and you get your camera gear together and you drive 25 minutes up to the Sea Breeze Pier on the shore of Lake Ontario. You walk out to the pier through nearly complete darkness until you emerge from the trees and find yourself standing alone on the concrete. The vast, ocean-esque, lake - illuminated by starlight and lighthouses - surrounds you while a forceful and biting Canadian wind blows in your face and instills temporary moments of regret (30 minutes ago you were just 5 minutes from your bed). Tripod legs are extended. Camera is mounted. You snap off a few test shots. Review and tweak. Manual focus set to infinity. ISO at 500. Aperture at f3.2. Shutter speed at 30s. Wireless remote ready. Open. Wait. Closed. Pan. Open. Wait. Closed. Pan. Open. Wait. Closed. By this point you’re colder than you’ve been since March - and very glad you remembered to bring your gloves and your ear warmers. You review again and like what you see. For the hell of it, you go a little further and snap off a couple 2+ minute exposures (you’re cold already, might as well make the most of the situation) and then you call it a night. Carefully you pack everything up while being sure to not make any technological sacrifices to the boulders that surround you. Walk back to the car, crank the heat up, and drive home. 30 minutes later you’re back home and importing the photos. You catch a glimpse of what you’ve shot and understand that you made the right decision. The regret of missing such a beautiful sight would’ve frustrated you for years. The photos are processed and uploaded and a blog post is drafted and queued. Over two hours later than you’d planned, you slip into bed as you mentally cross “Aurora Borealis” off your bucket list. (green!) (View it large.)

Aurora Borealis over Lake Ontario (by Steelopus)

Sometimes it’s 12:03AM and you’ve got your pajamas on and you’re ready to hop into bed but then you check Twitter one last time and see local meteorologists mentioning Northern Lights activity in the area and so you sit for a minute and try to convince yourself to just go to bed because you have to be at work in less than 8 hours and you really should get some sleep because you’ve been extra tired lately.

Then you snap out of it and realize that this kind of opportunity doesn’t happen often. It’s rare enough that the aurora borealis is even visible at this latitude, let alone on an autumn night. It’s even rarer that the conditions are right in the thermosphere while the troposphere is free of clouds - Rochester is, after all, completely overcast an average 200 days per year.

So you quickly throw some clothes on and you get your camera gear together and you drive 25 minutes up to the Sea Breeze Pier on the shore of Lake Ontario. You walk out to the pier through nearly complete darkness until you emerge from the trees and find yourself standing alone on the concrete. The vast, ocean-esque, lake - illuminated by starlight and lighthouses - surrounds you while a forceful and biting Canadian wind blows in your face and instills temporary moments of regret (30 minutes ago you were just 5 minutes from your bed).

Tripod legs are extended. Camera is mounted. You snap off a few test shots. Review and tweak. Manual focus set to infinity. ISO at 500. Aperture at f3.2. Shutter speed at 30s. Wireless remote ready. Open. Wait. Closed. Pan. Open. Wait. Closed. Pan. Open. Wait. Closed.

By this point you’re colder than you’ve been since March - and very glad you remembered to bring your gloves and your ear warmers. You review again and like what you see. For the hell of it, you go a little further and snap off a couple 2+ minute exposures (you’re cold already, might as well make the most of the situation) and then you call it a night. Carefully you pack everything up while being sure to not make any technological sacrifices to the boulders that surround you. Walk back to the car, crank the heat up, and drive home.

30 minutes later you’re back home and importing the photos. You catch a glimpse of what you’ve shot and understand that you made the right decision. The regret of missing such a beautiful sight would’ve frustrated you for years. The photos are processed and uploaded and a blog post is drafted and queued. Over two hours later than you’d planned, you slip into bed as you mentally cross “Aurora Borealis” off your bucket list.

(green!) (View it large.)

High-res green! Unfortunately it’s not my photo.  Despite driving to Lake Ontario and staying there until nearly 3am, I saw no auroral activity in Rochester last night.  In related news: coffee.

green!

Unfortunately it’s not my photo.  Despite driving to Lake Ontario and staying there until nearly 3am, I saw no auroral activity in Rochester last night.  In related news: coffee.