First star I see tonight.
Check the website. Auroras are supposed to be "highly active." Even down this far, we should be able to see them low on the horizon. Upon looking out my window, the sight of a star high up in the sky signals to me that the possibility of clear skies all over further into the night might mean I get my first glimpse of the Northern Lights.
A little restraint, I know I needed to wait for the night to progress. Maybe I didn't. The site did say for the little half hour forecast that it was "extremely active," why wait?! So, I got my gear on, packed the camera up, the tri-pod so I could get video for everyone to enjoy, a water bottle (so I could watch it freeze), and my gun. Layers upon layers of clothes so I could burn inside and just stay warm outside went on and off I went. A nice evening walk through town to get away from the lights in the wind-chilled -22° weather and I was at a decent viewing spot (I think).
Low clouds, low on the horizon there were still some clouds right where they said we'd be able to see the lights. What a bummer. I figured I'd wait awhile and see what happened. Maybe I'd get lucky. Now, I don't know if what I saw was me WANTING to see them so bad, but I swore I saw a dance of blue lights across the sky but I wanted to see them again before declaring that I had seen the Northern Lights. So for now, I will say that I am still without a sighting.
My night was not without excitement though. I was rewarded for my efforts with an awe-inspiring sight. As I stand, watching the sky for dancing lights, a burst of light flew from one side of the sky and burned it's away across the sky until fading out as it went through the atmosphere. A true shooting star that seemed to be there just for me made my evening. It's my first one even! Standing all alone in Alaska, in a tiny fishing village away from the world, all I could think about is how lucky I am to have this experience. All I wanted to do was to share it with Eric. A smile and elation about the moment washed over my face and the emotion of the event was a little overwhelming.
As I decided that the cold was then a little too much to handle, the flapping of an American and Alaskan flag waved goodbye as I scurried down the road to reach the warm comforts of home.
A shooting star in Alaska, how lucky am I?
How wonderful. I would have been a little emotional, too.
ReplyDeleteWe went out on Tuesday around 11-11:30 PM. I had on two coats, a hat and a hood, a face mask, goggles, gloves, snow pant, long johns, etc. We all walked up past the street lights, but nothing was really going on. It was -15 plus the wind chill. So cold! There was just a white glow, like when there is a city far in the distance. Derek said, "Well, that's enough for me!" He was about to walk away (and me with him), when all of a sudden two lights just shot up in to the sky like spotlights! They really weren't any special color, just light, but it was truly awesome. We'll try again tomorrow.
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