Dancing Spirits

The sun has been very subdued over the past 3 years so they've been absent for a long time, but after too long without them we were finally treated again to a majestic display of the northern lights the other day (night).

This time I tried capturing them with my camera, elusive as they are. It didn't work out too bad, as you can see below. In this first picture you can even see the northern lights outlining our solar array and wind turbine, although this kind of solar energy didn't register on our panels:

This second picture gives a better feel of the curtain-like motion that the northern lights often display, gently waving on the solar wind.

We're so fortunate here to have the clear, wide open skies to take it all in. Seeing them in person is quite an experience that never fails to grab you. Everyone who sees them senses something mystical about them, something more than just the solar wind ionizing the outer atoms of the earth's atmosphere around the magnetic poles. The native Cree call them the Dance of the Spirits, and somehow that seems very appropriate.

They also say you can make them move and dance by softly whistling at them, others claim you can hear them. All I know is we look forward to seeing more of them; and I don't think I'll inflict my whistling on them...