No trip to Alaska is complete without aurorae. On an overnight returning flight from Anchorage to Detroit, we were fortunate enough to see aurora, which started around 6:00 UT (2002/8/28) and lasted about 2 hours. Most of the time it was a long arc under the Big Dipper to Auriga. Occasionally bright rays and patches would light up and change shape in a few seconds. It almost feels like we are 'looking down' at the aurora. The ground below was covered by high clouds lit by moonlight.

I managed to take several photos from the window with a handheld camera and a lot of turbulence! The image of stars are all blurred (sharp dots are CCD noise) but I've done my best. I used a Nikon Coolpix 995 digital camera, with around 20 second exposure and ISO 400/800 settings. It helps to adjust the monitor brightness when viewing the photos.