Seeing videos of the northern lights the past few years – makes it so easy to understand why Norse mythology is so different than other European mythology, with its giants and thundering sky gods.
When I was a kid we would go to northern Minnesota in the summers, and I fondly recall standing on the pier looking out at the lights swirling over the lake. They weren't as brilliant as what these pictures show, but still magical.
1. Interior house lights don't contribute much to light pollution. Fucking streetlights and poor home outdoor lighting does. Rule of thumb: if you can see the light source itself (the bulb or LED), it's a bad lighting solution. LED streetlights are doing better at directing the light _down_, where it should be going, instead of into people's faces or up into the sky. There are two kinds of light- the glow that illuminates, and the glare that obscures. Also, ask yourself why we have streetlights on highways when cars have headlights.
2. Most people never realize the sensitivity of a dark adapted human eye. Give yourself 15 to 20 minutes in a dark room or even just starlight, and your eyes become photomultiplier tubes. A good aurora will show you greens and pinks, I've seen them. If your eyes are fully dark adapted, on a starlit night out in the middle of nowhere, you can read the headlines on a newspaper, but probably not the fine print- just by starlight.
/end rant
I've had the pleasure of seeing aurorae three times, all 3 times north of the 44th parallel. Fabulous.
There was a double rainbow over my valley two days ago, the main rainbow was a full rainbow and well defined, it was amazing.
The other cool thing about it was that it was there because we got some slight rain. It really was only enough to made drops in all the dust on my windshield, but still, it was a reasonable facsimile of rain.
Much as it was here, too. This is the desert, it's what we signed up for here. I called my former g/f back home and asked if it rained there, and she nearly laughed. There, in the shadow of the High Sierra, we did NOT sign up for endless drought, no matter [whatMary Austin] said.
https://vimeo.com/184263012
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIEqdXpG5Pg
Seeing videos of the northern lights the past few years – makes it so easy to understand why Norse mythology is so different than other European mythology, with its giants and thundering sky gods.
When I was a kid we would go to northern Minnesota in the summers, and I fondly recall standing on the pier looking out at the lights swirling over the lake. They weren't as brilliant as what these pictures show, but still magical.
Glad you saw them, and now, a bit of a rant:
1. Interior house lights don't contribute much to light pollution. Fucking streetlights and poor home outdoor lighting does. Rule of thumb: if you can see the light source itself (the bulb or LED), it's a bad lighting solution. LED streetlights are doing better at directing the light _down_, where it should be going, instead of into people's faces or up into the sky. There are two kinds of light- the glow that illuminates, and the glare that obscures. Also, ask yourself why we have streetlights on highways when cars have headlights.
2. Most people never realize the sensitivity of a dark adapted human eye. Give yourself 15 to 20 minutes in a dark room or even just starlight, and your eyes become photomultiplier tubes. A good aurora will show you greens and pinks, I've seen them. If your eyes are fully dark adapted, on a starlit night out in the middle of nowhere, you can read the headlines on a newspaper, but probably not the fine print- just by starlight.
/end rant
I've had the pleasure of seeing aurorae three times, all 3 times north of the 44th parallel. Fabulous.
I saw a half-rainbow the other day, prolly as close as I'll ever get to the Northern Lights…
There was a double rainbow over my valley two days ago, the main rainbow was a full rainbow and well defined, it was amazing.
The other cool thing about it was that it was there because we got some slight rain. It really was only enough to made drops in all the dust on my windshield, but still, it was a reasonable facsimile of rain.
Much as it was here, too. This is the desert, it's what we signed up for here. I called my former g/f back home and asked if it rained there, and she nearly laughed. There, in the shadow of the High Sierra, we did NOT sign up for endless drought, no matter [what Mary Austin] said.
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