Some Things You Only Get to Use Your "Inner Camera" For!

If you follow "space news" at all, you're probably aware that planet Earth is currently in the middle of getting a massive "solar storm."

Over a short period of time, there have been seven significant CMEs (Coronal Mass Ejections) from our sun, and that means the upper atmosphere experiences a lot of geomagnetic activity.

For the non-science nerds like me, that basically means that the Northern Lights (or "Southern Lights," over Antarctica) or Aurora Borealis are particularly bright and prominent, and cover a much larger area than normal.

Where we live in Western Washington state, we're usually lucky to see the Aurora as a faint green glow on the northern horizon. Tonight, I stood at the end of the driveway and got to witness the full "lightshow" directly overhead and pretty much in all directions. And it was not just a few faint wisps, but the actual "moving curtains" normally associated with the very high north above the Arctic Circle.

There was green, and pink, and purple streaks... and it was quite spectacular!

Of course, I don't have the type of photographic equipment to capture this, but the following couple of photos were taken by friends, up the road a bit... by which I mean less than 12 miles (about 20km) from here.

Photo by Jesse Hart, Washington (used with permission)

Yes, those are real colors!

They are not quite that intense as you watch — the photographs are the result of an 8-second exposure, so the color builds during the take.

Mike took this other one, which is a bit subtler, with a shorter exposure.

Photo by Mike Wood, Washington (used with permission)

Regardless, it is a beautiful and almost mystical sight... and it made me think of how some things we experience we only get to "photograph" without eyes, and then store in "inner memory" for as long as we remember it.

The last time I saw the Aurora on this sort of scale was on a flight from Seattle to Copenhagen, many years ago. That particular route is no longer active, but at the time the flight plan takes you across Greenland.

I remember waking up and looking out the window, and from 40,000 feet over Greenland, it was almost as if we were IN the Aurora, in purple and green! Again, impossible to take a picture of, but something I will always remember.

Of course, on some occasions the experience you have is impossible for other reasons.

Back in the mid-1980s — well before mobile phone cameras — I watched a fairly large meteorite blaze across the upper atmosphere from our back terrace. Scientists today call it an "Earthgrazer." There was no social media, of course... but the newspapers mentioned that "a number of people reported seeing a streaking light in the sky."

In about 2008 I saw something — with four other people present — that can only be described as a UFO. It looked a bit like a Chinese Lantern, except the size of a bus, and it came by at what seemed like at least 150-200mph (250-320 km/h), completely silent... and about two minutes later, four helicopters from the local Naval Air Station came blazing by on the same flight path.

Never found any further mention of the incident... anywhere.

The thing is — at least in my experience — when something like this happens, you tend to be rooted to the spot watching, rather than thinking to run for a camera inside your house, or in your car.

I'm just grateful to have seen some amazing things!

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great weekend!

How about you? Have you seen the Aurora Borealis? Have you seen any amazing/strange phenomena you could not photograph? Leave a comment if you feel so inclined — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!

(All text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is ORIGINAL CONTENT, created expressly for this platform — Not posted elsewhere!)

Created at 2024.05.11 02:04 PDT
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