My Twitter Feed

March 28, 2024

Headlines:

No Time for Tuckerman -

Thursday, August 3, 2023

The Quitter Returns! -

Monday, March 21, 2022

Putting the goober in gubernatorial -

Friday, January 28, 2022

Open Thread – Aurora

If you’re in Alaska tonight, look up! Aurora Alert! If you’re unlucky enough to be under cloud cover, or somewhere you don’t get to appreciate our beautiful northern lights, you can enjoy this amazing video of what they look like from the space station. Incredible!

And in case you thought we were the only planet in these parts to boast a pretty amazing auroral light show, check out this amazing Hubble telescope shot of the aurora on Saturn!

Comments

comments

Comments
41 Responses to “Open Thread – Aurora”
  1. suzanne hickman says:

    well y’know the 11 yr solar activity cycle is in it’s high point…all thru next yr too i hear

  2. Moose Pucky says:

    Who would have thought I could have gotten such an amazing view of the aurora on Saturn by just moseying out on the Flats?

  3. Shadow's Heart says:

    Getting into the way back machine here but when I was in 9th grade my earth science teacher took us on a weekend trip to the Delaware Water Gap to see the Aurora Borelis up close and personal. We all climbed to the top of the hill, sleeping bags in tow to lay beneath the stars and ponder the wonders of the universe. It was breathtakingly AWESOME!!!!! I remember it like it was yesterday.

    • Zyxomma says:

      I’ve camped the Delaware Water Gap (by the Appalachian Trail) many, many times. I’ve seen moonrise, and Venus when it was as big as my face. However, I never witnessed the Aurora there.

  4. leenie17 says:

    Jon Stewart skewers Palin, as only Jon Stewart can.

    Love the line about her vest being made from the pelt of a Cookie Monster she shot from a helicopter.

    http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-september-28-2011/indecision-2012—indecision-edition—sarah-palin-still-deciding

    • Zyxomma says:

      She still mispronounces pundit as pundant. That woman (and I use the term loosely, since that requires being human) would have to grow some brain cells and neurons to qualify for idiot.

  5. leenie17 says:

    The aurora has dipped south far enough to be seen in western NY a handful of times since I’ve lived here, but there’s always been too much light near where I live.

    Someday, I’ll see it in Alaska… šŸ™‚

  6. Zyxomma says:

    The aurora is one celestial phenomenon I have yet to see. My friend on the rez in SD assures me that should I visit during winter, I’ll probably get to see it. Celestial phenomena have turned me on since childhood. Kind of ridiculous that I live in a city where on a clear night I can see four stars, isn’t it?

    • Shadow's Heart says:

      Speaking as a newly transplanted South Dakotan I have to agree with your friend zyomma. I was just out side with the pooch for her nightly jaunt and the sky is aglow with stars. They seem so close you’d think you could reach out and touch them. I marvel at the beautiful sunsets and sunrises also too. We had our share of beautiful sunsets and sunrises on the East Coast but nothing like the breathtaking ones here.

      • Zyxomma says:

        I love the SD skies; they’re almost as amazing as the skies in the high desert. I was camped on a plateau in NM (not far from Taos) during the Perseids in 1972. The Milky Way was a sidewalk of stars, and meteors were streaking through the sky at an incredible rate. I was lying on my back, playing slide guitar, skywatching. One of the meteors hit the atmosphere, and the whole sky lit up Technicolor Day-Glo. Apparently, the meteor hit the Pacific.

        Next up, the Aurora. Preferably, from Alaska.

        Btw, have you experienced a SD thunderstorm yet? They can be quite spectacular. The last one I was in came complete with hail.

  7. bubbles says:

    Champagne anyone?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PiXDTK_CBY&feature=player_embedded

    i raise a toast to all the people, young and old down on the Wall.
    i don’t have a bottle of bubbly on hand but will a cup of grape juice suffice?

  8. Baker's Dozen says:

    We’re in a fog bubble. I wonder if I’ll see anything but gray today. The aurora is lovely.

  9. Baker's Dozen says:

    Scarcity or abundance? How do we get out of our economic mess?

    http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Opinion/2011/0928/When-some-yell-scarcity-time-to-act-abundantly

  10. mikefromiowa says:

    mike from iowa to Arizona,come in Arizona. The world needs massive amounts of wit and wisdom from semi-arid American Mountains and all the pastel colors of Mountain sunrises and sunsets.Do you read me,over?

    • Mag the Mick says:

      I am reading you loud and clear from Arizona. However, I don’t want to draw undue attention to the fact that I live here. I am pretty much always embarrassed by some goings-on or other here, but now that Sheriff Joe Arpaio has formed a posse to investigate President Obama’s birth certificate, I am really, truly ashamed to indetify my whereabouts.

      • Baker's Dozen says:

        No, please do. People need to know that sanity exists in Arizona.

      • mikefromiowa says:

        Sheriff Joe has a funny sounding last name,kinda Hispanic sorta. I wonder if he has a green card or a rill ‘Merican” birth certificate. I cringe whenever my fifth district congressweasel Steve King graces the airwwaves with his bouts of collossal stupidity and his unabashed fondness for Michele-one L- Bachmann. Still,I am Iowa born and raised and am proud to realize sooner or later intelligence and sanity will reach my corner of the state in politics. Afterall,we did survive two or three terms of Fred “Gohpher Smith” Grandy of The Love Boat infamy. Glad to know your still hilarious and alive.

  11. OMG says:

    How I would love to see those lights! Alas, where I am it’s not going to happen.

    It looks like Palin’s ‘the presidency is just a silly old title’ meme has caught the eye of the ultra-conservative National Review. Almost all the comments are anti-Palin:

    http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/278557/palin-2012-does-title-shackle-person-katrina-trinko

  12. jimzmum says:

    How beautiful! Sorry not to have been posting, but am so everything right now with Miss Suzie. There will be time and time in the future to read and catch up.

  13. johnny says:

    Oh My. Really, oh my.

  14. mikefromiowa says:

    Rub it in while you kin-someday Ioway will have its very own Aurora Corn-Borer Alis and we’ll keep it all to ourselves.

  15. GoI3ig says:

    I’ve seen them from the ground a thousand times (such is life in Alaska), but I’ve never seen anything quite as cool as that space station shot. Truly amazing!

  16. Kath the Scrappy says:

    Oh how beautiful! One of my favorite long ago movies was “Leaving Normal”. First time I ever got to see what an Aurora even looked like.

    Hey someone posted this on another blog. Wonderful read & video, it is absolutely fascinating! What an uplifting story.

    Orphan Elephants
    http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/09/orphan-elephants/siebert-text/1

    The Elephant Whisperers
    Video
    http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/09/orphan-elephants/orphan-elephant-video

    • Kath the Scrappy says:

      I’ve watched that video about 5 times. You just GOTTA see it!
      It’s just so sweet.

    • leenie17 says:

      Love the soccer game! You can tell that the keepers truly love their charges. Very sweet video!

  17. ibwilliamsi says:

    Beautiful! It’s on my “Bucket List”!

  18. Wow, that is so beautiful, whether from earth or space. And I had no idea that happened on Saturn! Learn something every day, and it’s nice when it is something beautiful and spectacular.

    Thank you!

  19. GoI3ig says:

    They have been awesome the past two nights, but the clouds are rolling in tonight.

  20. Gimme-a-break, Sarah says:

    Gorgeous! šŸ™‚

  21. Bob Benner says:

    Wow. Nice aurora pics…