Once in while, British news agencies will announce that something quite exciting is about to happen in the night sky. It might be a shower of meteors, a partial eclipse, an alignment of planets or maybe a glimpse of the northern lights above The North Pole - dancing as though in a discotheque.
Experience has taught me not to get very excited about these astral phenomena. Any time I have ever been out to look, my quest has ended miserably. Maybe it was to do with cloud cover, poor timing or simply failing to look in the correct segment of the night sky. Anyway, success has always eluded me.
Normally, I don't bother any more but on Friday night after Hull City had capitulated to Sheffield United live on Sky Sports, I decided to drive up to the moors beyond Ringinglow. The TV people had half promised that The Northern Lights might be visible in darkness, unpolluted by urban lighting.
So there I was, in blackness, standing by my faithful car Clint looking towards the northern skies at 22.30 hrs.. There was light out there but nothing that might resemble the famous natural light show. I tried to take some photographs but it was hopeless as you can see from my surreal picture which quite ironically I have titled "The Northern Lights".
In future, I think I will be best just ignoring any news about the heavens above. Instead, I will simply look up from time to time to see what I can see. I don't need any names or signs, co-ordinates or constellations. After all, the beauty of a clear night sky in velvet darkness is enough on its own. Stars behind stars reaching as far back as we can imagine. One of the amazing sights that looks upon us as we progress through these very short lives.
I've only seen the northern lights once that I can remember. It was winter and cold as hell, I was driving my first car so I must have been seventeen or eighteen. I was driving out in the country, just outside of Red Deer, and the lights were amazing and beautiful.
ReplyDeleteHow fortunate you were.
DeleteHey, at least you had a moment, and got some kind of lights
ReplyDeleteYeah. It's only a short drive.
DeleteI never have any success seeing the promised wonders either. I go out and look sometimes, but mostly I am too early or too late or looking in the wrong direction. Mostly I am just too close to the city and most sightings are best if you can see the horizon.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I think that the news people just make it all up.
DeleteI no longer get too excited about such things. The most amazing things in the sky I've seen were cases of right time, right place.
ReplyDeleteThis may interest you. https://www.abandonedspaces.com/news/easter-island-population-collapse-debunked.html
It did interest me. There's always something new to be said about Easter Island - just like Stonehenge.
DeleteI've never managed to see aurora borealis, either, even though apparently there were some visible even in my part of the world some months ago.
ReplyDeleteLooking at the sky has always been a habit of mine, day or night. At night, living where I do in such a densely populated area, I don't get to see as many stars as when we are at O.K.'s for the weekend - from his cottage, we can even see the Milky Way.
I only know a handful of constellations, but when I spot them (usually after many months when they weren't appearing over southern Germany), it is like greeting an old friend. Orion is my personal favourite, but I also like Cassiopeia.
The only constellation I can ever identify with certainty is The Plough.
DeleteIt is funny you did not see anything being so far North. There has been some pretty spectacular skies over Stonehenge and Avebury down South. I have only ever seen the Milky Way a couple of times, once when camping in Wales and it is a magnificent sight.
ReplyDeleteI must be jinxed when it comes to seeing heavenly bodies... though I once saw Sophia Loren.
Delete"Starry' starry night. Paint your palette blue and grey"....
ReplyDeleteLet's go and watch The Tigers play...
DeleteAnd hope that they will win today...
"The Northern lights are in my mind". Northern Lights: Renaissance. Great Prog rock.
DeleteThere were apparently some amazingly clear views of the lights up here recently, but I slept through it all.
ReplyDeleteAh well - we can watch footage of The Northern Lights on our tellies.
DeleteI once saw The Northern Lights way down in S W France. I was amazed; I'd had no idea they could ever be seen so far south.
ReplyDeleteWhich mushrooms had you been eating?
DeleteI have seen the northern lights from the farm in Michigan, many years ago. Colin from Foxes Afloat on YouTube did a couple of videos on how to photograph them.
ReplyDeleteI've never seen the Northern Lights. Supposedly they did make an appearance here this summer but I sure didn't get up to look. We have so many trees that we're lucky if we can see the moon.
ReplyDeleteI've stayed with friends in southern Norway in winter and hoped to see the lights, but apart from a very, very faint glimmer of green a long way off on one occasion, I've never been lucky. I'll just have to make do with You Tube videos.
ReplyDeleteWe've had frequent reports (and photos) of the northern lights from all over Sweden this year; I've never yet seen it IRL though. Living in the city, I never really see the stars properly either - there's too much artificial light from nearby streets and motorways etc.
ReplyDeleteYes, I never pay any attention to the night skies either. Of course it's barely dark when I turn out my light. Occasionally if I "have to get up" in the night and I know there's a full moon out I'll take a squint out the window but that's the extent of my sky watching.
ReplyDeleteI take it you won't be booking a trip in SpaceX then.
ReplyDeleteWhen we were in Canada this summer, on the one day without rain, we were able to catch a glimpse of a little color. And the Princess has seen the Lights quite frequently in Minnesota. I have looked at and enjoyed some paintings of the Lights, but that piece of art on the top of your post, well, not so much!
ReplyDeleteI saw the Aurora Australis when I was in New Zealand and it was darned impressive -- quite a show. But I've never seen the Borealis. I'm never far enough north, it seems.
ReplyDelete