Another obvious bucket list item for me would be to see the Northern Lights or aurora. I figured I would need to book a trip to Iceland or Northern Canada or Alaska to see them, but tonight a huge CME (Coronal Mass Ejection) from the Sun has slamdanced the Earth and we’re getting the most vivid and widespread aurora in 50+ years. On social media there are amazing and detailed photos from places like Detroit, Chicago, upstate New York, and even as far south as Nashville and Ohio. Even further south, there are photos of the sky glowing red and purple from Miami, Texas, and Mississippi, and even Southern California. I saw one set of pictures from Thousand Oaks, which is only a dozen miles from here.
Here, I’ve been taking cell phone pictures and looking a couple times an hour all night, but with no luck. We have light pollution near the horizone and the Little Dipper, and some haze and clouds off to the north.
Straight overhead you can see the Big Dipper, which would look even better if I wasn’t too lazy to go get the iPhone tripod and use it instead of shooting these pictures handheld. But no aurora, no purple or red tint to the sky. And now the clouds have moved in here.
Maybe on the next once in a lifetime occurrance. Maybe that will either be stronger so that the skies light up even at 34º12’03″N, or I’ll be somewhere further north so that I can see them.
If you’re further north tonight, I hope you had clear skies and a great view of a colorful sky, excited by high energy particles and plasma thrown out from the Sun! Enjoy!!!
And please, everyone try to take a peek for aurora on Saturday and Sunday as well. This solar storm might be strong enough to last a couple of days. If at first you don’t succeed…
We Love The Stars Too Fondly 