Thursday, October 10, 2024

Southern Nights, Northern Lights


It's damn near ironic that Ms. B.; our friends, Terry & Beth; and I returned from Michigan last week, where there had been talk that the Aurora Borealis, a.k.a. the Northern Lights, might be in evidence, particularly from the Upper Peninsula, where we spent a good portion of the trip. Sadly, the entire time we were there, atmospheric conditions failed to cooperate, and we never managed to view them. She's seen them plenty of times, but I have not, so it was a smidgen disappointing.

Now, the recent solar activity has made it so that the Northern Lights are showing up where here in Virginia and even points farther south. Now, they're not bright enough to be seen with the naked eye, other than perhaps as a bit of atmospheric haze; but cell phone cameras are frequently able to capture the light that our eyes can't.

This evening, Brugger and I drove out to nearby Forest Park Country Club, where we had a reasonably clear view of the sky with very little light pollution. We managed to get a few halfway decent shots of the Aurora, which was at least somewhat gratifying. One certainly doesn't see that every day here in VA.

Early in the evening, I spent some time putting out more Halloween decorations and carving a jack-o'-lantern. There will be more to come, but at least things are shaping up for the season. And we've shifted into high gear watching our regular Halloween-season movies. This weekend, we'll be partying at Terry & Beth's, the following at Joe & Suzy's, and following that, at our place. Busy times!

No comments: