Illuminating the Northern
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Following yesterdays post about sunspots comes this one about the Northern Lights.
My friends from KQED Public Broadcasting in San Francisco recently did a TV story called Illuminating the Northern for QUEST – their multimedia series on environment, science and nature. It’s what I call the true “reality TV”.
Their tag line is: “Northern California residents may not be able to see the northern lights like people in Alaska can, but Bay Area scientists are playing a key role in understanding them. Find out more about the spectacular light shows up north and what scientists at UC Berkeley are discovering about the Earth’s magnetic field.â€
It strikes me there probably is a number of readers that have never seen the Northern (or Southern) lights. All I can say is you are missing out. They are amazing!
You can see the story here at KQED.org. They have an ITunes link too, I’m off to check that out. I have embedded the video below:
Many thanks to KQED! PBS rocks!
Bizarre, In my RSS reader I could see the embedded flash but on your page it’s showing as just code.
Two days before I had my son, Zack, I was privy to the Northern Lights. At the time, we lived in the N.W. corner of Montana. I had woken up to nibble on some cookies and was standing in the kitchen when I noticed the Lights…I ran into the bedroom to wake my husband and he freaked out thinking I had gone into labor. (hehehe) Anyway, we went outside and watched in awe as they swayed, rose, moved all around. They seemed close enough to touch. Really neat!!!
Hmmmmm, better check my RSS reader.
I am from South Florida, so I have never seen the Aura Boriales (sorry about the spelling).
My daddy (actually grandfather)told me about seeing it in Maine.
It must be something incredible.
I live in northwestern Pennsylvania nad I seen a lot of weird thing’s in the sky around here day and night.. I’ve been told that you can see the Northeren Light’s in the winter, but, I’m still looking.. Been alot of place’s and seen some strange thing’s…
I hear how dangerous/inhospitable earth would be without the magnetic field’s protection. A semi-recent Nova TV episode, indicated that the earth’s magnetic field is due to reverse (a very big window on the geological scale), but, in addition, it hinted that there are indications that the change may actually be starting (dramatic localized changes off the southwest coast of Africa, if I recall). The episode touched on the effects of this magnetic change on the solar winds from the sun. It (I think) indicated that (at least until the N/S flip completed) it would not be that big a deal other than: a) Northern lights everywhere; and, b) a mild increase in the chance of a sunburn.
I confused as to how much of a difference it would make. Any thoughts?
HAHAHAHAHHA Carrie that was hilarious!
I’m a devotee of the lights, I am going to see if I can have a way to alert folks via the side bar. I have seen them so bright you could almost read by them. Seeing them in PA shouldn’t be out of the question and an intense display can be seen pretty far south, even northern FL is possible but that’s really rare though. There was a show in the 80′s that could be seen in Texas.
Marty — I SAW THAT!!! Awesome, now I am wondering if I was bright enough to put it on the DVR, probably not.
I had the priveledge of seeing the lights last August 21st 2006.(which I understand is pretty early to be able to see them).I was vacationing in Alaska and had an overnight in Denali, right outside the park. We were partying at a place called the Lynx Bar and around 2AM someone stuck their head in the door and yelled “the lights are on!” so there we were, about 20 or so people running outside and crammed onto the patio of this bar watching in awe as this amazing display took place. We also could hear all throughout the town of Denali, people out on their hotel balconies, along with all of us, whooping and hollering and cheering as the lights played across the sky. It was an amazing experience not only for the lights, but of the sense of bonding of total strangers at this display. I definately plan to venture back when I can. Seeing them once was not enough.
One of the perks of the upcoming solar maximum is that there will be a greater chance for aurora to extend to the lower latitudes, enabling more people to see these wonderful events.
I’ve seen many a great display over the years, and have some great photographs as well. It’s always a thrill to see a good show.