Well we made it to Friday. One of my longtime goals is to see the aurora borealis, or Northern Lights. My plan for the winter of 2020 was to travel to Norway, maybe visit a friend, and then head north to Tromsø and take in the Polar Night and, fingers crossed, catch the show. Then that whole Covid thing happened and scuppered everyone’s plans.
Fast forward to 2025 and the Sun’s magnetic storms are/have peaking/peaked in their 11-year cycle and a number of solar storms have impacted Earth and set off aurorae powerful enough to be seen here in the mid latitudes. Even in central Philadelphia I could see the sky with an uncharacteristic green and red glow. Nothing crazy, mind you, but proof that, yes, Virginia, the aurora is real.
This week xkcd posted about how cool the aurora is and I totally believe him. After all, I have seen many a lunar eclipse, partial and full, and they are very cool. And I have seen a number of partial solar eclipses, and they too are very cool. But back in April 2024 when I saw the total solar eclipse out in Ohio…it was worth every minute of that drive to get out from underneath a cloudy sky. Life changing is too strong and hyperbolic a term, but the beauty, the eerie quiet before the clamouring of the insects, the sudden chill in the air, the smallness in the scale of the universe…anyway, I hope to perhaps someday experience something similar with the aurora borealis.
So take his advice. If you get to see the show, sit down, take a breath, and take it in.
Enjoy the weekend.
Credit for the piece goes to Randall Munroe.