# See photos of the Northern Lights. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 30, 2001, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/see-photos-of-the-northern-lights/60057 "2001-03-30T02:39:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2001, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/see-photos-of-the-northern-lights/60057/1 "2001-03-30T02:39:05Z")
Or [Aurora Borealis,](http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/space/03/29/sun.activity/index.html) if you prefer. The Sun is at the peak of its current 11-year cycle, so the A.B. has been especially spectacular. At the bottom of the page is a list of links to many, many more photos and an MPG movie. Enjoy! ---
**Author:** ![jab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2001, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/see-photos-of-the-northern-lights/60057/2 "2001-03-30T20:25:18Z")
_BUMP_ ---
**Author:** ![kasuo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8c91f0/32.png) [@kasuo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kasuo)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2001, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/see-photos-of-the-northern-lights/60057/3 "2001-03-30T20:57:53Z")
Chalmers: Good Lord, what is happening in there? Skinner: Aurora Borealis? Chalmers: Aurora Borealis? At this time of year? A this time of day? In this part of the country? Localized entirely within your kitchen? Skinner: Yes. Chalmers: May I see it? Skinner: Oh, erm… No. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2001, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/see-photos-of-the-northern-lights/60057/4 "2001-03-30T22:24:36Z")
Great pictures, Jab. Thanks for the link. ---
**Author:** ![elelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2001, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/see-photos-of-the-northern-lights/60057/5 "2001-03-31T01:02:21Z")
jab, thanks for that link. I’ve had a right shitty day, and looking at those photos made up for all the human crankiness. (Perhaps the solar flares made for human flares as well.) Those photos make me want to move to Finland! To look up at those magnificent paintings in the sky must leave one with an amazing awe at being on this planet. But, Finland…brrr… it must be a Deity joke that if you can stand the lack of light and heat for that long, ya get to have a bit of reward. ---
**Author:** ![Suo\_Na](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@Suo\_Na](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suo_Na)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2001, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/see-photos-of-the-northern-lights/60057/6 "2001-03-31T03:05:50Z")
You don’t need to be in Finland to see the Northern Lights. Northern (and not even all that northern) Canada will do. I’ve seen them in the middle of summer in Northern Ontario. I’ve heard that this season they can be seen through most of the US if you don’t have too much light pollution. ---
**Author:** ![bare](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bare/32/471_2.png) [@bare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bare)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2001, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/see-photos-of-the-northern-lights/60057/7 "2001-03-31T06:57:10Z")
There is a great aurora tonight. First time I’ve ever seen an all red one. There is supposed to be a good chance to see more for the next several days because of the hugh solar flare earlier today. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2001, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/see-photos-of-the-northern-lights/60057/8 "2001-03-31T08:05:10Z")
at [http://solar.spacew.com/www/auroras.html](http://solar.spacew.com/www/auroras.html) there are reports from as far south as Lubbock, Texas! People are seeing bright red, green, yellow, and some almost white auroras! [sub][sup]But I’m in overcast Chicago and can’t see a thing.[/sup][/sub] ---
**Author:** ![dpr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8797f3/32.png) [@dpr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dpr)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2001, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/see-photos-of-the-northern-lights/60057/9 "2001-03-31T08:18:16Z")
Oh wow!!! How beautiful!!! ---
**Author:** ![coming\_up\_for\_air](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@coming\_up\_for\_air](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coming_up_for_air)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2001, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/see-photos-of-the-northern-lights/60057/10 "2001-03-31T08:35:04Z")
Somehow I think all the pictures are wrong. It’s like lightning, where it’s very fast and thin. On film it looks like a cloud but it’s really more like a rays glimmering. Even when they show movies, though, you get the impression they are slowing it down for effect, that it’s like shooting stars that you miss if you blink. ---
**Author:** ![jab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2001, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/see-photos-of-the-northern-lights/60057/11 "2001-03-31T21:22:05Z")
I’ve never seen the Northern Lights, and I went to Anchorage, Alaska once. (It was in July. It never really got dark there and it was cloudy most of the time.) Photos and movies are all I’ve ever seen. Can an aurora be bright enough to be seen in the daytime? That CNN site says that communications can be disrupted by large solar flares. Did you know a large solar flare caused a serious electrical blackout in 1978 in Canada and New York? That, too, was at the peak of one of the Sun’s 11-year sunspot cycles. **zgystardst** : That page you linked says an aurora was spotted near Ft. Davis, TX, which is MUCH further south than Lubbock; Ft. Davis is southeast of El Paso! It’s at 30.63N. It also says an aurora was seen last night from the San Gabriel Mountains here in southern California, on the north side, away from the lights of L.A. These sightings are extraordinary.