Astrophotography during the Northern Lights in Colorado this Summer

Spending a good portion of July in the Rockies, opened up a unique experience for me as a photographer... a chance to capture the Northern Lights. 

I trained with the amazing astrophotographer Rachel Jones Ross during my trip to Sunriver Valley in Oregon in 2019, but that trip was not aligned with the moon phase so we shot images then that played with the light from the moon.

This trip I had a much bigger window of moon phases so I was able to select a waning crescent phase to do my night time photographs.

The day before our shoot the Space Weather Center in Boulder announced the magnetic wind storm returning which meant a good possibility of capturing the Northern Lights in the Colorado Sky, when they typical only occur in Alaska and Canada.

The very first snap of our cameras and stunning lights of green and purple appeared in the long exposures. 

By the time we made it to our second shoot location the Auroras were really showing off. 

They were firing all through the night air! This shot captures the much rarer pink tones. 

Many thanks to Colorado Astrophotography Guide Maggie, she hosts incredible tours for anyone who adventures out to the Georgetown area. She's incredibly talented, gives amazing details of where structures are in the night sky, and is stellar to hang out with for an evening adventure. 

Want to book a similar trip? The Weather Space Center says solar activity is going to continue to be heightened for the next few years, opening up more chances of the Northern Lights making appearances in the lower 48 states.