Aurora Borealis Display
 

Anyone see the Northern Lights display last night? According to my Mom there's been a peak of solar activity recently and the displays are expected to get even more brilliant.

We live just above the 45th parallel. We haven't seen a display this brilliant or expansive since our first date (yes it brought back memories last night when we were out watching the display). I've actually not see a display quite as active as it was last night. The lights were moving constantly and rapidly. The curtains of lights reached from the horizon to the north, west, and east all the way up to the zenith above us. It was as if we were in a tent of purple and green curtains. They were waving and lines of lights raced like snakes across the sky just above the horizon. It was quite spectacular.

How many of you have seen a Northern Lights display? Did you catch them last night? I've searched a couple news sources and haven't actually seen anything about them. I wanted to confirm what my Mom had said about there being a continuation of the display in future evenings here. We live on the edge of town so the lights are not obscured by city lights.

I have never seen such a display but would ABSOLUTELY love to catch it. :) You are in a very lucky location to be able to catch such a spectacle.

Last time I saw them was a few years ago, on a very late flight flying across Michigan-- pilot comes on the intercom and tells the folks who were awake to take a peak out the window because the Northern Lights were on display... They already had my attention...

I have always wanted to see them just have never had the chance but one day I hope to go.

When I lived in Ottawa, I used to see them on occasion. Especially near the Experimental Farm where there isn't a lot of Light Pollution.

I was always amazed to see them... you know you read about them and even see pictures... but when they are in the sky they are just awesome.

I saw them around midnight last night. It was a beautiful site. I am still amazed. :)

I live in Michigan and missed them last night. However, the news said to look again tonight (Monday night).

I saw them in Iceland one winter... awesome.

I saw them while on a cruise boat last year on the way from Helsinki to Stockholm.

thanks for the remider of what's awsome, raeanna!

Cynthetiq, what date were you there to see the Northern Lights? My wife and I are considering a Baltic/Northern Europe cruise and I would to add that to the interests of the trip. Also, could you share what cruise line you were on and whether you felt it was a good one.

PM me if you don't feel like posting the details here.

I was in Iceland in November 2000, and in October 2004 on the Selia Line commuter ferry that goes from Helsinki to Stockholm over night.

Last few trips to Iceland were in the late winter/early spring and summer so I missed them completely. Since Iceland is so far north one just looks straight up instead of north to see the lights.

I'm looking forward to Feb 2007 when we go back to Iceland for our 5th Anniversary.

Yea, i heard on the news this morning about the northern lights last night. I didnt see it, but i saw the pic they had. It looks really cool. Supposedly they be there later tonight also.

We got a good show in Rochester, NY after the last Solar storm....mostly reds....a bit of blue...loved it for two nights.

those that don't know what they look like...

http://www.geo.mtu.edu/weather/aurora/

Ah, yes. The one time I've seen the Northern Lights was memorable for lots of reasons.

It was a early fall evening during my freshman year in college, and my roomate and I held a major party in our dorm room. Probably twenty people packed in there, with the dorm TV/VCR watching bad movies and drinking lots. Lots.

At some point, my friend Joel and I bailed out the window into the lot behind the dorm with a couple of blankets. We rolled and fell down the hill from the dorm, and slid to a stop in the soccer field at the bottom of the hill. We laid there for hours, talking about everything, watching the faint, colorless play of the Northern Lights on the horizon. It wasn't much to look at, but it still made a hell of an impression. In the morning we woke up and dragged our butts back up to the dorm.

very cool.... i wish i would get to see em sometime...

We're too far south to see anything, and I'm sure the city lights would obscure anything faint :( Someday....

I'm in the same boat as amonkie, too far south.

I have lived in Brittain for two years and oddly enough I never saw the northern lights when I was there. Always too cloudy.

I have however seen the northern lights from a unique place. In November 2001, I was on a plane from Phoenix to Frankfurt, Germany. About halfway across the Atlantic and 40,000 feet in the air, I looked out my window into the night sky and I saw a show that was much better than the inflight movie.

We get to see them usually at least once a week, sometimes several nights a week from right in my back yard. I live in a small city, and the light pollution will interfere with mild displays but the really wild ones still show up pretty good.

Even though they're common here, they're still enough to stop you dead in your tracks in awe with their beauty. It's kind of like staring into a campfire...

I caught some of it. Unfortunately I live in the city, so it wasn't much of a show for me. :(

I have seen them and they are AWESOME!

Anchorage has numerous nights with activity. I have also seen them from near Tok, AK near the Artic Circle. With the reflection from the snow, it is almost daylight.

The view from Columbus Nebraska:

http://debab.omaha.com/np_0/large/1108jblights.jpg

damnit! i lived in northern washington for about 5 years and i never got to see them, i was sure they'd be visible from there....

I was driving back from cleveland, and one of the guys in the car said to look. We stopped and looked for about 15 minutes, I had never seen them before. I thought you could only see them if you were further north. Here's a link to some photos a guy took. He was about 20 miles south of where I saw them, and his photos are awesome. I don't know the guy, it was on a local news site.

http://www.bgsu.edu/colleges/as/clc/...orthernlights/

i saw them once. i was walking down a dark road at night and all of a sudden i looked up and saw some strange lights flying this way and that. i was convinced that it was a ufo and anyone i saw down that dark road i thought was an alien. then when i got home i found out it was the northern lights.

true story.

I've always wanted to see them....Atlanta isnt the best place to be to view them though :lol:

I have to agree with shanni ive seen some trails in atlanta but it wasnt the northren lights for sure

I finally saw them once last year living in MI. I was really bummed to be out of town this week when it happened again. What a sight, especially if you aren't prepared and know they will be there!!

I love seeing the Northern Lights. I can remember my first time so clearly. I wish I had a decent camera that I could have snapped a pic with. Though a photo can never capture the surreal vision of moving green lights in the sky.

Thanks Bill O'Rights, and Hanxter for the pics and Cynthetiq for the link.

I live in downtown Chicago, so the light pollution here is pretty bad. Most clear nights we're lucky to see any stars at all. Sunday night when my wife and I went to bed, I looked out our window and saw a green glow between the buildings. I immediately recognized what it was. I told my wife to get dressed cause we were going out on the balcony to watch. It was cold, they were faint, my wife has lousy eyesight and couldn't see them. As faint as they were, I stood and watched for half an hour.

All I could really see was a green shimmering glow between the buildings. It was more eerie than beautiful, but awesome nonetheless.

I want to see them from Alaska some day.

Man I'm really sorry to have missed this. We don't get too spectacular views of the sky here in the city. My mom called me from home and said it was absolutely breathtaking. She said it was like something out of Close Encounters it was so brilliant.

It is totally awesome when I catch these. Unfortunately, it happens less frequently than I would hope.