Northern Lights
We’re now going through that odd 2 to 3-week season called autumn here. Both spring and autumn in Israel tend to be short-lived, only denoted by frequent temperature spikes and drops on a near daily basis. Unlike my home state of Minnesota, there’s no real Theater of Seasons here and obviously we don’t have the extremes of weather that come along with it. What makes me know that autumn is in the air is that we are experiencing a wonderfully cool early morning, cool enough that when I wake up I find I’ve covered my shoulders with a light blanket.
Another herald of cooler weather way, way up north are the tweets by@AuroraMAX that the Aurora Borealis is on display in the Yellowknife, NWT area.
AURORAMAX ALERT • An aurora is now visible above Yellowknife, Northwest Territories! Check it out at asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/astronomy/…—
(@AuroraMAX) September 19, 2012
The music in the first video is OK, but the otherworldly sounds made by the aurora itself and the wind can be just as beautiful. And while there’s too much talking in the second video, you can hear the hisses, whistles, crackles and pops that the aurora broadcasts over radio frequencies.
Anyone want to book a flight to Finland with me?
Related:
Northern Lights, Earth’s Auroras, Causes and Facts
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Posted on 19 September 2012, in It's Just Life, Saw it on the WWW, Videos and tagged astronomy, NPR, space, twitter, weather. Bookmark the permalink. 5 Comments.
I used to live in Yellowknife and it is AMAZING. I read a book written by a missionary in the 30′s-50′s, which was still Stone Age culture up there, and he said the sound was an illusion: when he put his head down to the snow he could hear it louder, because it was just the sound of the snow expanding in the cold. Having heard the sound myself, I sincerely hope he was wrong.
An illusion.. that would be so sad. After seeing the aurora in northern Minnesota when I was a child, to me it sounded like bottle rockets swooshing and popping and it wasn’t the 4th of July, either.
To me, it sounded like the swish of taffeta ballgown skirts. And it is magical.
Of course, I don’t know what bottle rockets are.
i am wearing a sweatshirt to work. it’s way too cold for the day after RH. I think we may need parkas for YK. Aaaahhhhhh, Minnessnowta!
I’d heard that Fall is way too early this year all over the US and Europe. We even saw some trees changing on our trip to France at the end of August. *That’s* early.