29/08/2025
Before I start my next Aurora hunting season next week here's a trip down the memory lane all the way to March 7th 2012 - the night it all started! ✨
My first ever Aurora hunt happened over 13 years ago during the first peak of Solar Cycle 24. I had read from the news that there's a coronal mass ejection likely heading towards Earth following a X1.1-class solar flare from the sunspot region AR1429 on March 5th.
I had just recently started nature photography as a hobby but had never had the chance to take an Aurora photograph yet. Excited for this rare opportunity I borrowed my mom's car and my dad's old Canon 350D (from 2005 no less!) and set my course to Pyhä-Luosto National Park. It was a very cold night with the full moon out but I had my trusty snowmobile jacket on and some coffee in my thermos.
Once I arrived at the national park and found a quiet spot I began to wait inside the car with the engine on to keep me warm. For a time that felt like ages the skies were so calm that I thought the CME might have missed. Back then I had no idea how to interpret the complicated-looking satellite data. If I had known what all of the weird graphs meant I would have realized that the CME had already arrived at the ACE spacecraft and would hit Earth within the next hour.
And at around 9:50 PM it sure did! 💥😍
I was absolutely stunned by the exploding Auroras in every possibe direction, easily outshining even the full moon. I obviously didn't really know how to take photos of the Auroras yet but in between laughing with excitement and crying tears of joy I sure tried my best! I took photo after photo and enjoyed the mesmerizing spectacle for over two hours until the camera batteries ran out of power and I couldn't feel my frosty fingers anymore.
There were a million thoughts and feelings going through my mind on the drive back home to Rovaniemi but one thing was for certain.
A new Aurora hunter was born that night.
