The brightest aurora I have ever seen.
On Sunday night as I was heading home to bed, I saw the brightest auroras that I have ever seen in my life. I was walking across DJ to my dorm and could see a white cloud moving above me. Normally, a half moon is enough to obscure any auroras. If the full moon doesn't do it, then the street lights in town certainly will so I was astounded when that cloud started moving up and down like an aurora.
Auroras over the Hut Ridge Trail.
I rubbed my eyes to make sure they weren't playing tricks. When they weren't, I ran the rest of the way home, put on my ECW, and then grabbed a bicycle to head down to Hut Point. I could see the auroras from town so I figured they would be even better from a darker spot. They faded quickly, but didn't disappoint one bit. The aurora over the ice runway was so bright it lit up the ice a little bit. I thought I imagined it, but I was told by someone who has seen brighter auroras in Anchorage that they can do that. Apparently, Anchorage is right in an auroral oval so they regularly get fantastic displays that dwarf what we get here.
Menacing fog . . .
I was out less than an hour before the auroras faded and a fog moved into town. I'm not sure why, but we've had a bunch of fog this week. It might be the colder temperatures. Today, we are down to -32F/-76F wind chill. It is a good day to be an indoor PC Tech. The fleet ops are working hard.
This post is for Nancy who can't seem to get enough aurora pictures.
Wow, those pics are awesome!
ReplyDeleteI agree - those pictures are just fantastic. Nice job. Stay warm and if you can't get warm maybe try the ramen to give you that comfort food feeling
ReplyDeleteaaaww a post full of aurora pictures just for me. thanks brody!!!
ReplyDeletesomething about auroras...i dunno...they're mesmerizing.
do you remember when we saw a meteor shower in the middle of the ocean while sailing back from japan? i will never forget such an experience...which is why i imagine seeing auroras would be just as spellbounding.