We began Aurora Hunting about 2 years ago. Quickly, we realized that if we wanted to do this as a family, we needed "something" that we all could sleep comfortably in. This is because Aurora's are visible at night, inevitably (but not always) early in the morning when the kids (and parents) are used to sleeping. That's when my husband started nerding out on researching the best solution for this "problem"...and that brought us to the idea of Ellie.
We had a few priorities when deciding what to do, obviously we needed something that'd be comfortable for the family to sleep but since we like trips (some far away), decent fuel mileage was also a concern. Full size RV's are usually the biggest offenders to fuel economy, compared to a "car", but sprinters are somewhat in between getting ~15+ mpg. Cars certainly get better fuel mileage, which is great for long trips, but then you need a hotel which is typically far away from an ideal viewing area (something with minimal light pollution).
So we decided to buy our junky sprinter van, that barely made it home and fix her up! Exactly 1 year ago- we bought Ellie, this poor girl was in need of some serious maintenance, and my husband began to repair, design and outfit her for our BIG trip only 7 months later (June of '23)! Now we can say, exactly a year after we bought Ellie, we finally also got to use her for the original purpose and she experienced her 1st Aurora!!
Who likes DATA?!?!
Many things have to happen in order for you to capture beautiful Aurora photos. Some things like Cloud Cover can impact if you can see the Aurora or be able to capture worthy photos of it. KP, BZ, Hemispheric Power, Solar Wind Speed, yatta yatta have to be "perfect" to support a viewable "light show" from a Geomagnetic Storm! :)
Here's a few things we have learned- Cannibalizing Coronal Mass Ejections (CME's) are typically good to hear about and certainly earth facing make us excited enough to check for local cloud cover! Here are a few other details we like to look after:
KP 5+, 6+, 7+ are GREAT indicators that the Northern Lights are coming and viewable where we live.
BZ should be negative, nothing will happen if not
Hemispheric Power >40 and continuing to climb is supportive that the Northern Lights may be coming. For this particular Aurora (morning of 12/1/2023) the Hemispheric power was 163 gigawatts.
Solar Wind Speeds in the 500's or greater is also a good indicator.
If you're ever interested in an Aurora Hunt, please let us know! We enjoy these last minute trips! Life's short- seek every opportunity to go on Adventures!
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