Saturday, July 24, 2004
Aurora Borealis
Finally.
Returning from the Lakes 10 multiplex, after Nick, Jere and I had watched the CGI sparkle of Spiderman 2, Jere noticed a glowing curtain of starstuff hanging over the northern horizon. We drove out of town, past the street lights, into the fields and turned into a closed side road, as the curtain split into two, three, four sheets...
The sky flickered and throbbed silently - waves of grey light chasing one another through ghostly ducts carved into the sky, seeking heaven. Countless thin sinuous channels of darkness veined the dancing plasma in the zenith, imperceptibly shifting as the storm's front lines moved through the thermosphere. A black gulf beneath the great northern curtain was suddenly filled with a succession of new sheets blazing into life. Every so often, a filament, a fold of these new curtains would erupt brilliantly, and like a flame on a fuse, travel down the length of the delicate film.
Colours began to emerge. Oxide blue-greens, trimmed with nitric pinks and purples. The curtains to the north faded, but the pulsing rays above speared more intently into space. The battle between Sunspot 652 and the churning iron below had found a new focus.
Five days before leaving Duluth, I was getting my send-off.
It was cold. We pulled ourselves away from the erie half-darkness and returned to civilization's smothering half-lights.
Returning from the Lakes 10 multiplex, after Nick, Jere and I had watched the CGI sparkle of Spiderman 2, Jere noticed a glowing curtain of starstuff hanging over the northern horizon. We drove out of town, past the street lights, into the fields and turned into a closed side road, as the curtain split into two, three, four sheets...
The sky flickered and throbbed silently - waves of grey light chasing one another through ghostly ducts carved into the sky, seeking heaven. Countless thin sinuous channels of darkness veined the dancing plasma in the zenith, imperceptibly shifting as the storm's front lines moved through the thermosphere. A black gulf beneath the great northern curtain was suddenly filled with a succession of new sheets blazing into life. Every so often, a filament, a fold of these new curtains would erupt brilliantly, and like a flame on a fuse, travel down the length of the delicate film.
Five days before leaving Duluth, I was getting my send-off.
It was cold. We pulled ourselves away from the erie half-darkness and returned to civilization's smothering half-lights.
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1:19 PM
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Very poetic, I especialy liked the part where "The sky flickered and throbbed silently" I am a little concerned about the "channels of darkness veined the dancing plasma" but like a great curry I'm sure it will dawn on me in the fullness of time.
I must see an aurora myself one day,
have a good trip and stay away from dodgy flagstaffs
see you in a month or so
Your anonymous brother
Yeah, yeah - a pretentious post. Big burny glowly things in the sky have a way of doing that to a man- witness most National Geographic specials on the topic.
Oh and congratulations again, Stu...