Natural Phenomenon

Did you spot them?!

There was excitement in the air (literally) as we wandered from one "less light pollution" place to another.

We were fortunate to be in a part of the world where we got to see the aurora borealis.

Thanks to a strong solar flare exploding from the sun, our experience of the northern lights was much further south than usual. We were so grateful!

The clear night sky certainly helped. (You would never know how dark the sky was from the camera’s picture!)

When looking up at the sky, we saw gray streaks that resembled clouds.

When looking through a camera lens, the colors came alive!

[geek out moment] Since that night, I learned that the aurora or northern lights often appear to us in shades of gray because the light is too faint to be sensed by our color-detecting cone cells in the retina of our eye. The human eye views the northern lights generally in faint colors and as shades of grey and white. However, camera sensors don’t have the same limitation as our eyes and have a much higher dynamic range of vision in the dark than humans do. Thank goodness!

I wanted to see the northern lights for a very long time.

I admit that seeing them in gray was a bit anti-climatic.

I appreciate that smartphone cameras picked up the colors that my eye could not.

I also appreciate that this activity forced my family and I to slow down and pause while looking up into the sky. This was not something to "catch" while going 100.

Did you have a clear night sky? Where you able to pause and enjoy this natural phenomenon?

Next week (teaser), I will share the other natural wonder we experienced the same weekend as the northern lights.

Create your life.

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