Northern Lights SHows

Robert, Monday, September 1

We went back to Pioneer Park today to see the northern lights show. They had a tent that formed a dome inside a building. The dome was held up by a fan that blew air into it. The dome was 10 feet tall in the middle and 20 feet in diameter. We filed in with about twenty other people and sat on the floor around the edge. In the middle was a projector that projected stars on the inside of the dome. In other words, this was a small planetarium. The show consisted of displays of northern lights along with an explanation by a professor from the university. The most interesting part was the movies. These were produced by using a regular digital camera pointing straight up. The camera had a fisheye lens so the view was horizon to horizon. Each picture was a 3 second exposure so when they movie was played, it lasted several minutes although it covered most of the night. These were taken around Fairbanks so the northern lights were directly overhead. After seeing this, we set off for the university museum. They too have a northern light show we wanted to see. While the show is put on all day, when we got there it did show again for three hours. So we wandered around the museum. I figured we would see it all in thirty minutes but it turns out that it was very interesting and we looked at displays for three hours. We saw the show (it was not as good as the free show at Pioneer Park) and left to get dinner. By this time it was late so we ate at the restaurant here in the campground.