Saturday 12 October 2024

Northern Lightshow - 10th October

Thursday evening and the Aurora Borealis alerts started pinging through on my phone, suggesting the Northern Lights could be visible in northern England. Then, Ollie Metcalfe sent a pic of the sky over Bank Island - the Aurora was visible! A peek out of the window and I could see stars - great, there was a clear sky over Bishopthorpe. It is usually far too bright where we live because of the streetlights, so I persuaded Vicky to come with Lunar and me for a walk down to the bridge over the River Ouse, where it was a bit darker and we could get a better look at the sky. 

To our delight, there was a green glow with some pink visible to the north - woop! The Northern Lights! Joined by some friends, we hung out for a while and the pale green streak across the sky remained pretty much the whole time, whilst the pink block faded in the north and reappeared in the west, behind the iron fisherman sat atop the swingbridge. Class! 

 

After an hour, we got cold and when the lightshow faded we wandered back home with the bemused dog who seemed a bit puzzled by what we were doing. Just before bed, I went out with Lunar into the back garden and to my surprise, there was a huge red streak lighting the sky above the house! The family came out for a look but I couldn't persuade them to go back to the bridge, so I biked down there alone. It was pretty spooky, but a few people including a mate of mine were there enjoying the show. 




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