Pretty night under the full moon, but where is the aurora?

Birch trees in the front yard under the full moonlight.

The other night the moon was full and it made for a pretty bright night. However, this has been the longest stretch I’ve gone in Alaska without seeing good aurora (not counting the summer). I just wandered around the driveway taking some pictures in the moonlight. I watched a light band of aurora slowly lift over the trees, fade in, fade out, drop down, disappear, reappear, blah. It never seemed to do much. The all-sky camera at the Poker Flats rocket range was showing pretty much the same thing (further north and east from us), so I packed up and went to sleep around midnight. Maybe we’ll get a show over the weekend so I can stay out later in this ridiculously warm weather. Hope . . .

A diffuse band of aurora creeps south and becomes visible behind the spruce trees. This is actually the best I’ve seen in about a month.