On Sunday afternoon March 6th, there was growing excitement about the anticipated geomagnetic storm! A stream of solar wind from a coronal hole on the sun was about to arrive. We were in the right place, the waning moon would not be out until early morning, the wind was not much more than a gentle breeze, and the skies were clear! At twilight, we began to search the skies for a hint of coming lights. It did not take long since the lights were already dancing above us, just waiting for darkness to begin their show.
Aurora was all around us at different points in the night. At home in Maine or Massachusetts, we would look north if we wanted to see the aurora. Since we are located directly under the auroral oval in Churchill (58 degrees north), the aurora could appear in any direction including south if it was a powerful storm. The auroral oval (think doughnut) bulges during a geomagnetic storm, allowing folks much farther south to see it.
Brian was out taking souvenir photos for the guests and painting their faces with light. Below is a group photo of our volunteers. There is a giant snowpile that provided both a tremendous viewing spot and some terrific slides. Lots of laughter filled the air. Since I haven't climbed the snowpile in the daytime, I thought that darkness would provide a dangerous first attempt. I'll wait until another day.
The lights appeared in the early evening and were still going strong when I went to bed at 2 am. You can see that it took a couple days to catch up on sleep in order to find time for editing photos and blogging. Enjoy the photos.
Spectacular.
ReplyDeleteCheryl