MACKINAW CITY — The University of Michigan Biological Station was honored to co-host an event with The Headlands International Dark Sky Park at its location along Lake Michigan in Mackinaw City on Friday, June 23.
UMBS Director Aimée Classen and Headlands Director Jamie Westfall welcomed UMBS Summer Lecture Series speaker Ross Ellet, an Emmy-award winning meteorologist and aurora chaser, for a presentation about space weather, aurora borealis and photographing the Northern Lights.
“The Headlands is a beautiful location with a shared mission of scientific outreach,” Classen said. “We encourage you to visit and look forward to partnering with the Headlands on events in the future to engage with the northern Michigan community and visitors to the region.”
Ellet works at the ABC affiliate in Toledo, Ohio, and produces a weekly segment called “Spacing Out” that focuses on night sky highlights and publishes a weekly Great Lakes aurora forecast each Thursday. An aurora chaser, Ellet has traveled to the arctic of Alaska and a variety of locations in northern Michigan, southern Canada and northern Manitoba to photograph the Northern Lights.
“Ross shared the thrilling stories behind his family’s journeys to catch a glimpse of one of the most beautiful natural wonders of the world,” said Chrissy Billau, marketing and communications specialist at UMBS. “His resulting photos are iconic and awe-inspiring. We are grateful he revealed what he has learned through successes and failures to help us turn a bucket-list dream into a reality.”
Watch videos and photos from the event on the UMBS YouTube website.
