The aurora glory
Willow Blooms #016 Laugh like Finland!
The sun came out at the weekend, and it was glorious!
On these most glorious days, I’ve enjoyed looking at the pictures of the aurora borealis. I learned that it’s visible further south (for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere!) than usual due to a strong geomagnetic sun storm. This has sent charged particles into space, and they’ve been colliding with the Earth’s atmosphere, creating the beautiful light displays. I always thought of the Northern Lights as green, so I was surprised to see how colourful they are in the pictures. I also think of aurora as the Northern Lights, but the same term applies to the Southern Lights, referred to as aurora australis (I see you my Southern Hemisphere friends!)
Sadly I went to bed too early on Friday night to see the lights for myself, so I don’t know how the sky actually looked in person. Is this what they looked like to the naked eye, or are the colours down to the magical power of the modern phone? I had a peek on Friday night, but I just saw a dark sky, and what seemed to be a long thin cloud. I read something today that says there has been another solar surge, so there might be more activity in the coming days, but unfortunately the clouds are back in the sky. As we may not see the lights again, I’m enjoying the pictures on the internet instead. Thank you if you took and posted a picture, they really are beautiful. I failed at the photos, so I did a bit of research...
Simon King and Jacqueline Howard write in the BBC news website (updated 11th May 2024) that ‘we are approaching the ‘solar maximum’, where there are naturally more sunspots on the Sun’s surface.’ They say that these are like big volcanoes erupting charged particles. The colour of the lights in the sky depends upon which gases are being energised by the particles, I read, immediately being reminded of chemistry experiments at school.
Do you remember the flame test? This involved putting a substance into the flame of the bunsen burner to see how the colour changed (it was supposed to be something like lithium rather than the end of your biro, which often happened when the teacher turned their back). Each compound had an consistent and therefore identifiable colour. I’m no chemist, but I’m thinking it might be a similar process happening in the sky? I read that the greens are from the oxygen in the atmosphere, whilst nitrogen atoms are responsible for the purples, blues, and pinks. There were more of the latter, the purples and pinks, in the pictures I saw taken in the UK.
(Note: I caveat these suggestions with my lack of expertise in this area. I am mindful that the colours are perhaps an artefact of the modern phone, rather than valid chemical reactions… but sometimes it’s just as much fun to surmise than to know!)
Each time I hear the word aurora borealis, I think of Lyra Silvertongue / Belacqua from Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials books. I love these books, and in the first one of the series, the Aurora was a fascination to the characters. It eventually becomes a portal to another world, serving as a reminder of the thin places between our world and others, and the impact of the choices that we make. How do we want to show up? How do we achieve our goals? And who are we prepared to help, or harm in the process?
Although I didn’t see the aurora for myself on Saturday night, I saw something else magical. No, it wasn’t the Eurovision Song Contest, though I did watch a bit of that. I only saw the first half, voicing my disappointment at the video special effects, and lack of performances with pianos bursting into flames! But as I prepared myself to walk home from my friend’s house, one of the last acts I saw was Windows95man.
Watching it back today, the first few lyrics are actually empowering-
Is there something wrong with the way I look?
Is there something wrong with who I am?
If I'm not alright, tell me why do I
Feel so beautiful tonight
Yet when I saw it live, the men could’ve been singing anything. The world and I weren’t really listening! All the senses were in a state shock at the lack of attire of the man who hatched from the giant denim-covered egg! My eyes were more occupied than my ears, and I spent three minutes with eyes glued to the screen, trying to determine if he was wearing anything to protect his modesty. I was sure that I spotted a flesh coloured fabric pouch, but watched with wide eyes as the performance leapt from the ridiculous to the sublime. This is what I love about Eurovision, the utter ridiculousness of some acts, nestled amongst the performers making serious attempts to win. In Finland’s act the main singer did a pretty good job at holding the tune whilst his stage buddy shouted and pranced around the stage, finally taking cropped denim shorts that flew down from the sky, and putting them on. Phew!
It ended in a wonderful crescendo of joy, with Windows95man wildly spinning in circles, waving garden hoses fixed around his waist that spurted fire rather than water! Likely lost on most of the millions watching goggle-eyed, the song repeated the lyrics with which it finished-
I don't even care what's wrong or right
It's how I live my life
No rules!
I laughed the whole way through the act, waiting for some disaster to befall them. Luckily it didn’t, and I started out for home feeling full of good food and amusement. Thank you Finland (and friends for the food)!
There was a little spring in my step, and the enhanced senses from walking in the dark. I heard a scurrying sound ahead of me, and looked down, expecting to see a rat running from the park. I saw a black shape and immediately jumped, but soon realised it was not what I’d feared. Rather, the scuttle was made by an animal that appeared to be drunk. A small hedgehog, waddling from one side of the pavement to the other. Trying to throw me off its scent?! I tried to hold back a bit, in an attempt not to scare it, and used my phone to record the creature.
I failed to notice the person getting into a car, but suddenly an engine fired up just ahead of us. The hedgehog ran faster, and I was afraid it would run into the road, and straight into the car, so I readied myself for this scenario, mentally rehearsing the arm waving and step into the road to stop the car from moving. Dazzled by light, the hedgehog took a sharp left turn into the driveway of one of the houses. Satisfied that it was now not in the line of the tyres, I continued home, enjoying the glow of the inner smile from my hedgehog encounter, and the silly shouty songs.
Back home I stayed up for a bit, periodically sticking my head out of the front bedroom window trying to spot the aurora borealis. To no avail. I gave up and went to bed. No Northern Lights for me this time, but hedgehogs and Windows95man are surely enough excitement for one person on a Saturday night?!
As for Sunday, I learned what a birthday cake looks like with 104 candles on it. The full picture shows the recipient looking amused at the offering prepared for her. She may not have been able to see the individual candles, but I am sure she could see the flames, and feel the heat! Spectacular in their own way, I shall call these lights, the Aurora Centenarian.
(NOTE- a fire extinguisher and damp cloth was at the ready, just in case!)
What I don’t know is how much of the cake was free of germs and bits of wax once everyone had helped blow the candles out. The flame test was abandoned in favour of the taste test.
I know it’s a bit late now, but tell me, how was your weekend? Did you get a peek at the aurora, or anything else spectacular?