pic o’ the day: the Aurora Borealis, seen from space
22 Dec 2006 7 Comments
in Art, Canada, Entertainment, Family, Physics, Science, Travel, Weird, Wildlife, sad
Gawd knows where I stumbled across this, but I had to post it. If this is what it looks like from the space shuttle, imagine what it looks like from directly below! I had the coolest parents when I was little (it was only when I got to be older that they became a PIA); they would wake us up if there were a particularly beautiful set of Northern Lights, so we grew up with the Aurora for our show and tell items, because we were the only little kids who were awake at midnight to watch them.
I also remember a night in Winnipeg, record cold, too, when, just as my mother finished setting the table and called us in for dinner, a huge snowy owl flew right into the living room’s picture window. SMASH! I tell ya, we even turned off Tommy Hunter, even though he had Glenn Campbell on that night! Yep, it was that special.
By the time my father got outside to investigate, the owl was gone. Not the first or last guest to come to temporary grief and lasting headache over the cocktail hour chez raincoaster, alas, but perhaps the prettiest.
We think he was making for the poodle, but we will never know for certain…
Dec 22, 2006 @ 07:14:19
Quite a remarkable picture!
Looks like it was taken from the International Space Station.
Dec 22, 2006 @ 07:46:48
Oooh, I love that website. One of my favourite photos from there is this mosaic one.
I also have fond childhood memories of seeing the northern lights – especially when I lived in (brrrrrrrr!) Thompson, Manitoba.
Dec 22, 2006 @ 13:38:12
That is an awesome shot. And, your parents sound awesome too.
~firefly
Dec 22, 2006 @ 17:58:55
Wow, that’s amazing
Dec 23, 2006 @ 15:16:04
Nice picture :)
Dec 23, 2006 @ 23:10:12
Thanks, all. That’s one thing I miss about Winnipeg and Wiarton; getting to see the Northern Lights on a consistent basis. I’ve only seen them a couple of times in BC, once at not-Ucluelet in the middle of summer. There must have been solar flares or something, because they hardly ever happen in the summer as far as I’m aware.