"I patiently waited in the lobby of my hotel in Fairbanks, trying to ignore that it was nearly 10 p.m. - normally when I'd be switching off my bedside lamp. Tonight, though, I wasn't winding down. I was winding up, wired with anticipation and primed to trade sleep for the chance to witness one of the world's great bucket-list wonders: the aurora borealis."
"A plain white passenger van soon eased to the curb. Out stepped Aaron Lojewski, founder of Fairbanks Aurora Tours, a man who spends eight months of the year pursuing the Northern Lights. His greeting was brisk, no-nonsense. He was all business, a man singularly focused on the craft of anticipating when and where the aurora borealis would make an appearance."
"Some of my fellow aurora seekers brought serious-looking camera rigs - tripods, wide-angle lenses, remote shutter releases. Lojewski explained that a tripod is practically non-negotiable. Even slight camera movement can result in blurry images. Me, I had only my iPhone. I felt modestly ill-equipped for the adventure, yet thrilled to be there all the same. As the van rumbled south out of Fairbanks, the city lights fell away and we were enveloped by the ink black night."
Nightfall in Fairbanks becomes active as a tour group assembles to chase the aurora borealis. A guide, Aaron Lojewski, dedicates months to tracking the Northern Lights and applies forecast tools and local knowledge to select viewing locations. Tourists board a van and travel away from city lights toward darker skies, often timed near new moons for better visibility. Photographers bring tripods and wide-angle lenses because long exposures demand stability; mobile phones are less ideal. Thick clouds force mobile searching for clearer skies while the guide explains solar winds and Earth's magnetic field to interpret auroral activity.
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