Where and when to look for breathtaking northern lights in Colorado: "I think you need to experience it"

When you think of the northern lights, you might think of arctic wastelands and shimmering snow-covered, barren, flat stretches of ice.  

Well, it's the 21st century and the future is now. You can see the northern lights from Colorado, you just need to know when and where to look. 

Photographer Scott Bellow knows both. He set out towards a spot he knows near Edwards to get away from the lights and buzz of the city when his app alerted him solar activity might bring the lights into range. 

"My girlfriend was laughing, I was going pretty wild," Bellow said. "Looking at the updates every night, I would check it every second. I would check it and it got closer and closer and I knew it was going to happen."

And happen it did. Bellow nabbed an awesome photo of the aurora borealis, with amazing pinks and purples dancing across the Colorado sky. 

"I think you need to experience it. The camera does capture more but when you are out here seeing the glow and dance across the sky it is pretty incredible," Bellow gushed. 

The other neat aspect of this was timing. Bellow says he used to do a lot of astrophotography and would have to stay up until 3 a.m. for a lot of his shoots. This time, he got to nab his picture by 10:30 p.m. and drove 15 minutes home to hop in bed. 

"I was going crazy, there was a pack of coyotes and they were barking and I was laughing hysterically, the whole thing was pretty wild and incredible," Bellow said, as he smiled. 

While Bellow uses a full-fledged professional camera, he says anyone with a newer cellphone probably has the ability to capture photos just like his. As long as they know how to use the long exposure feature on their camera.