The Northern Lights

We finally saw the northern lights last night!

Jonny and I heard that there was a good chance of a visible aurora, so we drove out to the North Douglas boat launch on Douglas Island. We live where the red circle is, on the Juneau side. We drove across the bridge downtown to the island of Douglas and up the highway to the red X. This area gives you a great view of the north sky, since that's where the northern lights will manifest. There are many tall mountains surrounding this area, so you have to pick a good viewing spot or you won't see anything. The weather must also cooperate, which is why we haven't really seen them before now. Juneau is the sixth cloudiest city in the United States!

So.. what are the northern lights anyway?

The northern lights, or Aurora Borealis, happens when there are solar flares and solar storms on the surface of the sun. Some flares can be HUGE!

An event like this sends charged particles flying at the earth. These particles are drawn to the Earth's magnetic poles at the north and south. When the groupings of particles collide with the particles that are already high in the Earth's atmosphere at the poles, you get visible dancing lights that appear at the northern and southern polar regions.

If you break down the name Aurora Borealis, it's actually quite pretty. Aurora is the Roman goddess of dawn, and Borealis is the Greek name for the north wind. The Aurora can be seen just peeking out over the horizon, or directly overhead if it's strong enough. You can often see magnetic field lines they move along curtain-like rows. These appear to "dance" as they can change within seconds. They are usually bright green, but reds are also visible in some vivid displays.

We use a variety of tools to alert us to aurora activity. One of our favorite websites is http://www.gi.alaska.edu/AuroraForecast. This will map out the aurora activity and show you where it is visible and how strong it might be. Jonny also receives alerts on his cell phone. This was the forecast for last night.

See how Juneau is completely covered? It has to be strong in order for us to see anything usually. This is rated as a 5 on their scale.

And this is what it looked like to us!

I put a few of the images together so you can get an idea of what it might look like as it changes. Doesn't it look like a dancing green ribbon?

We feel truly blessed to have witnessed something so incredible. We can definitely check off another item from our bucket list!