Matanuska River

“It is good to feel small beneath the sparkling Northern Lights, small beside the mighty river. Nature is so close to us up here. My troubles and difficulties just shrivel up. I like being insignificant.” – Asa Larsson, Swedish Writer

Last week, I described the science behind the Northern Lights. This week, it’s about the experience.

The Shot

On September 14, NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center issued a minor geomagnetic storm watch. Our group of Alaska Fall photographers were optimistic about the Northern Lights appearing that evening.

After dinner, we scouted locations along Highway 1 paralleling the Matanuska River, near Chickaloon, Alaska. We needed an interesting landscape to compliment the Northern Lights if they made an appearance.

The most powerful landscape astrophotography images move the viewer’s eye from an interesting earthly foreground towards the beauty and mystery of the night sky. We were depending on luck to fill the night sky with the Northern Lights. But the choice of a foreground was up to us.

Nothing seemed to click for miles. Then one spot seemed perfect. Along the shore, the river curved majestically towards towering peaks in the background. And with a long exposure, the river’s chaotic flow would be simplified, helping the viewer’s eye move powerfully towards the distant mountains and up to the Northern Lights.

We set up around 10:30 pm. Not long afterwards, we saw a faint band of white light in the sky. To our cameras, it appeared green! Gradually, the Northern Lights intensified. Soon, we were gobsmacked by shimmering, dancing curtains of greens and violets above the mountain, reflecting intensely in the river below.

A rising moon just out of the frame to the left illuminated several low clouds and a snowcapped peak in the distance on the right. And traffic was scant, keeping scene-spoiling headlights out of our images. It was a gorgeous display, easily visible to the naked eye.

I revelled in feeling small beneath the sparkling lights beside the mighty river. My troubles and difficulties indeed vanished.

Our good fortune continued, and a mesmerizing overhead display appeared for several minutes. Eventually, the show shifted to our left and out of the composition.

After about 90 minutes of joy, we packed our gear and headed back to our hotel for a sound night’s sleep.

Thanks for looking,

Chuck Derus Zenfolio | Chuck Derus

Storm Chasing

I bet you expected a tornado picture. The storm I’m talking about is a geomagnetic storm.

The Sun’s powerful magnetic field affects much more than its surface. Its magnetic field is so strong that it reaches beyond Neptune’s orbit 2.8 billion miles away.

Every 11 years, the Sun’s magnetic field reverses. The Sun’s magnetic North Pole becomes the South Pole, and vice versa. And during the subsequent solar cycle, the poles switch back again.

The field reverses in the middle (solar maximum) of the cycle. The midpoint of each cycle is characterized by large numbers of sunspots, and it is when the Sun is the most unpredictable.

During the reversal process, the Sun's magnetic field becomes extraordinarily complex and tangled. When stretched too far, twisted magnetic field lines can snap and release energy over a million times greater than a volcanic eruption. These powerful bursts of radiation from its surface produce solar flares traveling outward at the speed of light, arriving at Earth just eight minutes later.

Another solar phenomenon called coronal mass ejection (CME) involves an eruption on the surface of the sun that sends charged particles streaming into space. These particles typically require between one and three days to arrive on Earth.

Like solar flares, CMEs are more common closer to solar maximum. They may also occur even when the sun is calm.

If the Earth is in the path of either of these bursts, they slam into and disrupt the Earth’s magnetic field as illustrated below producing auroras (Northern Lights).

By NASA - https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2007/10/The_Sun-Earth_connection, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=192450

Solar Maximum

2025/2026 is the peak of our current 11-year solar cycle. So, aurora displays are common. And it’s the time when large scale bursts of radiation called geomagnetic storms ranging from G1 (mild) to G5 (extremely severe) can occur.

In May 2024, an extremely rare G5 geomagnetic storm, the strongest since 2003, hit the Earth producing auroras far outside the Arctic Circle across Europe and North America.

On November 11, 2025, this year’s most powerful solar flare erupted from sunspot AR4274. It led to a G4 (severe) geomagnetic storm.

It produced stunning auroras that were visible as far south as Mexico and Alabama. My sister-in-law Diane witnessed it in Navarre Beach, Florida.

Photo courtesy of my sister-in-law.

Reports also indicated that the auroras were particularly vivid and widespread. Luckily, various technologies, including satellite operations, navigation systems, and power grids were minimally affected.

The Shot

Naperville, Illinois has the maximum amount (9) of light pollution on the 1-9 Bortle Scale. The night sky is so light polluted that only a few planets and the brightest stars are visible.

Normally, this would cause the aurora to be invisible. But not on November 11. I was home and decided to launch my drone about 100 feet above my house.

To my amazement, I was seeing the aurora despite the light polluted sky and the soon to be rising moon. It was a thrilling sight I never expected to experience from my front yard.

Thanks for looking and Happy Thanksgiving,

Chuck Derus Zenfolio | Chuck Derus

Born of Fire and Ice

Lake Superior is known by several names. Reflecting its grandeur and deep ties to the Ojibwe nation, they call it Gichigami or Gitchee Gumee, meaning “Great Water,” “Big Sea,” or “Great Sea.”

To the French explorers, it was Lac Supérieur, meaning "Upper Lake." Following the end of the 1754 to 1763 French and Indian War, the British victors anglicised the lake's name to Superior, as "its being superior in magnitude to any of the lakes on that vast continent."

The lake is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area and the third largest by volume. There’s enough water in Lake Superior to cover all of North and South America to a depth of 12 inches!

Superior was born of fire and ice. 2.7 billion years ago, the first volcanic rocks began to rise out of an ancient ocean, forming the Superior craton, the nuclear mass of our continent. Ely Greenstone rock from that era is still commonly seen on the North Shore of Lake Superior.

About 1.1 billion years ago, the Superior craton began to pull apart. A rift formed, creating a valley with more lava emerging from cracks along the edges. The rift stopped expanding before the land could separate into two continents. One billion years ago, the last volcano went quiet.

As mountains eroded and seas formed and reformed, the rift valley filled with sediments. Compacted and cemented, a layer of sandstone formed above the volcanic rock.  

The icy part is glacial. Lake Superior was shaped during the last 2 million years by glaciation. Glaciers up to 3,000 feet thick pressed downwards, scouring the soft sandstone away and forcing the ancient bedrock deeper, creating great depressions. The final retreat of the ice from the Lake Superior basin was only about 12,500 years ago.

The depressions created lakebeds. Glacial meltwater poured into them, filling them up, creating Lake Superior and the other Great Lakes.

The Shot

There are several small, rocky islands on the North Shore of Lake Superior. Hollow Rock, near Grand Portage, Minnesota, has captured my attention for years.

My first attempt to photograph this unique island with a hole in it was foiled by a thick layer of ice in 2022. As you can see below, the hollow isn’t visible. If I appear cold, it’s because the air temperature was 10 degrees below zero.

I was luckier when I visited two weeks ago. And it was during the one-week window when the sun rises through the hollow in November. Despite the cloud cover, I enjoyed the sight and came away with a pleasing image.

Thanks for looking,

Chuck Derus Zenfolio | Chuck Derus