Catching northern lights is a game of trial and error. Following the forecasts and models is a road halfway to the win but never a guarantee. About a couple of weeks ago we had an evening with a very good forecast and according to the graphs, the situation was great.
I usually don't drive out unless there is some proof that the lights are visible, for that I watch live cameras. At some point around 10pm, the lights blew up really suddenly, I could see them from the front of my home.
I quickly packed my camera, jumped in the car and drove to the Tilgu port which is an adequately dark spot.
Sadly the biggest show has passed already when I arrived, said the photographers that were already there. Still, there was something to see yet. I started to wait because the northern lights can blow up randomly again.
Tilgu port is nearer to my home and has a great seascape scenery to capture with northern lights but it is also a bit brighter than Tyrisalu cliff I have been going mostly to capture northern lights this year. This time I chose to drive a sport nearer to me.
Sadly, the northern lights didn't blow up insanely anymore but they did not go away entirely for quite a while.
Finally, graphs and models showed me that the activity is decreasing and I could see that there was not much to see anymore, I decided to leave.
Later in the night, the activity increased again and I went outside to the darkest spot I have near my home. Unfortunately, this is not dark at all and the conditions are very poor. There is so much light pollution as you can see on the photo + we had a full moon lighting up the sky. I barely saw it with my naked eyes but the camera saw a bit more.
Some good eruptions happened on the sun recently and one of the blasts was towards the earth so there is a possibility for tomorrow's evening. I will be on the lookout. Evenings/nights are getting brighter and brighter fast and it might be one of the last, if not the last time this season to see the northern lights. The sky is already bright up until 9 pm already.
