Hello December, you came in on a lovely note

[sholio]

"The Lady is dancing!" This is how local people on Facebook often refer to the aurora on an active aurora night. "The Lady Aurora is dancing - come outside!" I love that no matter how long anyone lives here, the aurora is something you simply never get used to. People on Facebook who have lived here for 40 years call to each other to come see it if they're awake. I don't know any other weather phenomenon quite like it.

Anyway, we are having an especially vivid aurora night ... or so I hear. The Kp index (measure of solar activity) is a stunning 7 - on a scale of 9; a typical active aurora night is around 3-5. It's not that bright here. But when I walked outside, and walked around the house and looked up and saw it, I found myself saying, "Oh hi! Oh there you are!" (It's farther south than it typically is - it generally manifests north of us, but on a very active night like tonight, it spreads farther from the pole and its epicenter is well to the south.)

What it *wasn't* doing was racing all over the sky. It was scattered light shafts, deep and tall, especially pretty when they're right over you, like arrows pointing up to the depths of space.

I took some not so impressive cell images.





I also liked this picture of the house and the moon and moonlit clouds and (possibly not visible in the smaller image; click to embiggen) Orion's belt, while I was waiting for the aurora to do something again. The moon sparking those bright little glitters off the rooftop snow was exactly what it looked like. The moon has been so bright this season.

Comments

[leesa_perrie]

Love that you get to see the Aurora! And that last photo is lovely, with the moon lighting up the snow, with the clouds and stars and all.

[liz_mo]

Thank you very much for sharing these! Seeing an Aurora live is definitely on my bucket list! Love the dancing image

[lunabee34]

That's so lovely. Some things are just too full of wonder to become background noise.

[schneefink]

Thanks for the pictures :) Very nice.

[vass]

That's glorious, thank you for sharing it.

[radiantfracture]

Thank you! I miss the lights, living so far south now.

[hamsterwoman]

"The Lady Aurora is dancing - come outside!"

Awww!

It's so cool that there are nights you can step outside and see something like this! I've never seen aurora borealis yet myself, but hoping to take a trip at some point which would allow it and get lucky...

[scioscribe]

Oh, these are stunning!

[slippery_fish]

Man, I'd really love to see this someday...

[sovay]

It was scattered light shafts, deep and tall, especially pretty when they're right over you, like arrows pointing up to the depths of space.

I'm so glad you got to see it. I had hoped to find out if the aurora made it as far south as us, but we had total cloud cover last night, so who knows?

The moon on the snowlit roof is very beautiful.

[yalumesse]

That's so lovely. I'm glad that you and everyone else there never stops appreciating it <3

[sushiflop]

There she is! I'll never forget my definitive aurora, back in 2001 - horizon to horizon rippling ribbons of deep crimson, the whole sky full.

[philomytha]

Oh wow, that's gorgeous!

[silverflight8]

That is so cool. Also I love the sparkle of snow on the rooftop.

[scintilla10]

This is so pretty!

[timespirt]

I have always wanted to see that and when in rare times we do it's cloudy or raining.

[sgac]

Meanwhile, at the other end of the globe, the aurora australis was doing its thing unusually far north last night.

[black_bentley]

These are gorgeous, I love that shot of the moonlit roof <333 we've had some spectacular aurora here recently and I've missed it. Every. Single. Time.

[anna_wing]

What a lovely way to describe it! I've never seen either aurora, but it's something I intend to go looking for when the occasion arises. Orion's Belt I am always startled to see on the horizon. I'm used to it already being overhead when night falls (on the equator, this takes about five minutes from the moment the sun touches the horizon, so invitations to watch the sunset over drinks require exact punctuality).

[naye]

Absolutely magical!

[aelfgyfu_mead]

Wow! That's wonderful!

I once saw an aurora (auroras?) from an airplane, and I said something so that everyone awake around me could look out and see, and it was a wonderful sight. It was also better for sharing it, even with strangers.