Northern Lights

Kurt sent me the above picture. It was sent to him by his mother and was taken in North Dakota.
I asked him if he had ever seen the Northern Lights. He had not.

Wikepedia says:

Auroras (north/south polar lights; or aurorae, sing.: aurora) are natural light displays in the sky, usually observed at night, particularly in the polar regions. They typically occur in the ionosphere. They are also referred to as "polar auroras". In northern latitudes, the effect is known as the aurora borealis, and it was named after the Roman goddess of dawn, Aurora, and the Greek name for north wind, Boreas by Pierre Gassendi in 1621. The aurora borealis is also called the northern polar lights, as it is only visible in the sky from the Northern Hemisphere, the chance of visibility increasing with proximity to the north magnetic pole, which is currently in the arctic islands of northern Canada. Aurorae seen near the magnetic pole may be high overhead, but from further away, they illuminate the northern horizon as a greenish glow or sometimes a faint red, as if the sun was rising from an unusual direction. The aurora borealis most often occurs from September to October and from March to April. The Cree call this phenomenon the Dance of the Spirits.

Its southern counterpart, the aurora australis/southern polar lights, has similar properties, but is only visible from high southern latitudes in Antarctica, South America or Australasia. Australis is the Latin word for "of the South". The northern lights have had a number of names through history.

Benjamin Franklin first brought attention to the "mystery of the Northern Lights." He theorized the shifting lights to a concentration of electrical charges in the polar regions intensified by the snow and other moisture.

I have seen them a few times. We used to vacation in Minnesota at Leech Lake. One night I was at the drive in movie. I looked out of the car (it may have been the little Dodge Dart Convertable) and saw the best Northern Lights I have ever seen. They were red and green and spread all over the sky. I don't remember what the movie was but I remember the lights.

In our family we share the news so I left the theater and drove to the "Y" south of town and called the resort (no cell phones then) and called the resort and told them about the lights. They were at the Lodge playing cards and so the card game was suspended and everybody went out to the dock to look at the lights. I went back to the movie but spent much of the time looking up at the sky.

I had two great aunts who lived together for a time. I remember one time we saw the lights here in Ames and called them and they had already put on their nighties (great aunts wear nighties) and they threw on their robes and got in the car and drove out into the country to look at the lights. We used to have a service from the Ames Astronomical Society that would automatically call us and play a little tune to let us know the "Lights" were out. We would jump in the car to go look for them.

We used to live out in the country north of Ames. When you were outside you could look up and see lots of stars. One time I was driving home from a night on the town in Des Moines and looked off to my right and saw - A COMET - It was spectacular. I loved being able to see the stars. Today there are really too many farm lights around to really be able to see the stars. I miss them. That is why I found it exciting to walk out and see the moon and Venus and Jupiter. There were a lot more stars up there but I could not see them because of the lights.

You can see the lights really well in the Arctic. Scottish poet Robert W. Service mentions them in his poem The Cremation of Sam McGee.

There are strange things done in the midnight sun
By the men who moil for gold;
The Arctic trails have their secret tales
That would make your blood run cold;
The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,
But the queerest they ever did see
Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge
I cremated Sam McGee.

Thanks for stopping by, Next time you are outside at night look up to the sky to the north and see if you can see the Dance of the Spirits. ARTYAL - Hugs - j-bear