AURORA CHASING CANADIAN-STYLE

Experiencing the magic of the northern lights from coast to coast to coast

- Christy Turner

For an ever-growing community of northern-latitude-based night skywatchers in Alberta and across Canada, a trifecta of clear skies, active solar activity and a southern tip to our magnetosphere can only mean that when it comes to seeing the northern lights—it’s game on!

Alberta Aurora Chasers (or AAC), a social media-based group, began as a small group of night sky enthusiasts, and has swelled considerably. These members have one common goal—to see the aurora borealis. Chris Ratzla, Alberta Aurora Chaser’s group administrator, reflected recently on the explosive popularity of chasing the aurora, and the phenomenal STEVE (sub auroral arcs). “The Alberta Aurora Chaser community started as a small group of experienced aurora hunters in 2012, helping one another improve our ability to see the aurora within Alberta, an area at a latitude with only sporadic aurora activity... In 2015, our community started to focus on helping others in Alberta learn how to determine when they might be able to catch the sporadic auroral displays that grace our skies. Ever since then, our community has been increasing by at least 50 per cent per year, to over 26,000 members currently, with members across Canada and around the world (though, we’re still largely Albertan in composition).”