Northern lights

Just a very quick post. I was watching Stargazing Live again tonight and glad they'd invited Dr Caroline Porco back. They have been covering the aurora borealis or northern lights on the programme. It made me think of the two times I've seen the northern lights. 

The first time was in Yorkshire in Doncaster. It was 13th March 1989 the reason I know the date is because the magnetic storm that caused the northern lights also caused huge damage to power lines in Canada and you can look it up on Wikipedia!  My Dad was driving me home from Doncaster at about 9:30 or 10 at night. As we drove I thought the sky was looking strange but couldn't quite put my finger on what it was that was odd. It was like the clouds were moving strangely and the light from the moon wasn't right. 

When we got home both my Dad and I commented on how weird the sky looked but the weird cloud lights, as I thought of them, looked a ghostly white almost lilac to me. I thought the northern lights were green or red so it didn't cross my mind that it could be that. 

We got in and I said to my Mum and brother that there were some weird cloud things outside and lights in the sky. I thought they'd laugh at me. But they said they'd heard on the radio that people were reporting they could see the northern lights over Yorkshire. I think it was even on the national news that night.   But when I went back outside to look they'd already gone. 

The whole experience was very eery and beautiful and there was a kind of stillness to it all. Although the aurora was moving it also made everything else seem pretty still. 

I'll write about the second time I saw the northern lights tomorrow that was in Canada and I saw a comet at the same time!