Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Beauty

Last night around 9:00 my husband got a phone call from a fellow astronomy-buff. He told Rocky that there was a good chance to see the Northern Lights that night. Rocky was at a stopping point in writing his grad school paper, and Abby was sound asleep, so we put on our coats and hats and walked down the street to the darker part of the neighborhood.

We didn't see much of anything except a greenish haze across the northern sky. We knew it was more than just the lights from the next city north of us, but said "if this is the Northern Lights, it's pretty boring." We stargazed for a couple minutes, then turned around and headed back to the house.

We were literally in the driveway, about to go inside, when we both said "what's that?!" as a long streak of greenish-white shot up from the horizon. We backtracked a few yards into the street and watched as the streak grew bigger, then turned red, then watched the entire northern sky come ablaze in greens and reds. We felt like little kids, full of giddiness and adrenaline as we hurried back to the part of the neighborhood without street lights. We sat on the curb, facing the northern sky, watching the colors slowly come ablaze, then fade, then come ablaze again. We quickly called our closest friends and family and told them to "look outside!!"

Even now I get shivers thinking about what we saw.

The display lasted about 10-15 minutes, and I tried to get a few pictures. My point-and-shoot camera doesn't have quite enough settings to get the desired result, but I adjusted the colors and contrast a bit in photoshop, and here is the best I could do:


And these were taken towards the very end of the display, so it barely even captures what we saw...

Have you ever seen the Northern Lights? This was the first time for both Rocky and me. Cross that off our bucket lists. :)

I'll leave you with the words a friend of mine posted on Facebook this morning, after having seen the lights last night.
We climb mountains and say that God is majestic.
We walk along a beach at sunset and proclaim that God is an artist.
We see amazing sites like the grand canyon and announce God's power.
We see the Northern Lights and declare it the glory of the Lord.
Now if only we could look in the mirror and see the same thing as we do when we look at the rest of God's creation.


Have a beautiful day!

10 comments:

  1. wow that is just beautiful I would love to see those one day!

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  2. It really was a once-or-twice-in-a-lifetime opportunity...

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  3. Following back from Flock Together. Thanks for joining this week and for following Mom's Best Nest! I'm now following you and look forward to reading your posts!

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  4. This is absolutely beautiful. I wish I could see the Northern Lights. I live in the south. Not too much sky watch going on here. I'm a new follower or at least I think I am. I tried signing in but the button said "join".

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  5. Thanks for visiting! :)

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  6. It looks like yes you are a new follower! I see you in the GFC members list. :) Thanks for stopping by!

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  7. Admittedly: jealous. I told my husband I would really love to see the Northern Lights sometime. Realizing the chances are pretty slim, he set the screen saver to one that looks like them. Probably the closest I'll get.

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  8. Aww the screensaver is a neat idea. :)

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  9. Beautiful! I'm a new follower. Found you through the Terrific Thursday Blog Hop.

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  10. Wow, this is just amazing! It would have been even more spectacular seeing it in person. I am a new follower stopping by from Follow me Wednesday! Em

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