Northern Lights

 Looking northeast from our building at sunset last night. Followed later by a more low key but equally spectacular glimpse of the Northern Lights.

photo: Tjøstheim Constantin Korsvold Nikolay

After hearing a G2 class solar flare event was on its way, I was checking the northern skies at 1 am. They were clear, except for a peculiar dead black meniscus with a sharply defined geometric margin above the northern horizon. The edge was just as smooth and exact through binoculars. 

At five past one, fingers of vivid green light with golden margins suddenly appeared, one at a time and intermittently, springing into view from below the horizon, growing upwards beyond the meniscus and wavering before dying down again. It was so affecting, despite being exactly what I was actually looking for, that 'an involuntary cry of wonder was forced from my lips'.

Two minutes later, it was gone.

I have made frequent visits to these latitudes in Sweden over the past 30 years, and many (but less) to the vicinity of the Arctic Circle, always hoping to see the aurora, but always, whenever there was activity, it was obscured by cloud, or latterly, the glare from the floodlights of the out of town shopping outlets around the world's northernmost IKEA. The last time I saw the aurora was in Whitehaven in 1974, which was a much more extended and powerful display. The solar cycle was at its lowest last year, and it's just started building towards another peak in 2025, so there are more displays in lower latitudes to come