Earth is currently in the path of a solar flare and our area of the Rockies was given a good chance of seeing the northern lights or aurora borealis. About a half hour ago the DrsC went outside and saw an unusually bright northern sky, as though there was light pollution.
Except that in our rural area there isn't light pollution. What we saw was part of the aurora borealis, but I am forced to admit it was an unspectacular manifestation thereof, alas. No gaudy red or green streamers.
The late spring we drove the Alaskan highway from CA to Fairbanks and back in our little motorhome, the aurora was nowhere to be seen. That would have been in the early 1980s, exactly which year I don't offhand remember.
Later … The other DrC did see more of the aurora than I last night, she was up at 3 a.m. and bingo, she saw the colors sweep across the sky. I looked somewhat later and saw only the unnatural brightness, before going back to sleep. And she reminds me we’ve been north of the Arctic Circle and not seen it on a couple of occasions, both in Northern Europe.
