The View From Here: Northern Lights Make For A Local Happening

Friday 11:15(ish) Newaygo County Welcome Center

Photo by Lil DeLaat
Story by Ken DeLaat

Friday was a great night to be out chasing the Aurora and folks took to observation sites all over  our county from lakesides to muck fields and beyond. LSC Lil and I began with a trip to High Rollaway which proved to be an exceedingly popular destination. There were more cars in the scenic roadside park than you might see on a sunny autumn afternoon during peak color tour season even with the reliable popcorn wagon tossed in as a bonus (love the caramel corn). 

But these were a different breed  of colors altogether and Newaygo County was out in droves to catch a glimpse. From there we decided to see what the view might be from the Welcome Center where Lil was able to score a few fine shots. Later we went back to our home on Hess and took more shots of the streaming array of tints, tones and hues.That night and all the next day local social media exploded in color with a wide variety of delightful shots from a number of aficionados of the AB (AKA Northern Lights).

The name Aurora is from the Roman goddess of the dawn. and Borealis is Latin for northern. Aurora was also the name of the heroine in Disney’s Sleeping Beauty, the mother role played exquisitely by Shirley MacLaine in Terms of Endearment, and the daughter of Lucifer and Chloe in the TV series Lucifer.
We don’t know anyone named Borealis but Kanye and Kim’s son was named North so I guess that’s as close as we can get.

As you might guess, there are many myths associated with the AB.  A good deal of these involve those who have passed on. Some felt they might be ancestors watching over their progeny and others believed they were fallen  enemies and harbingers of perilous times to come. Inuits at one time thought they were dead folks playing ball with a walrus head, an image that’s admittedly hard to shake once you take it in. Some ancient peoples thought the lights came from stew pots simmering the enemies of unknown (and feared) Northern peoples and others thought they might be coming  from tribes of dwarves boiling blubber.
While some of these myths sound a bit over the top, you can likely say with certainty there are many among us today who see AB as an omen of some sort. Just as they do with eclipses, comets, meteor showers or a proliferation of abandoned shoes along the roads.
After all in this, the Golden Age of Conspiracy Theories, the boundaries of actuality are exceptionally fluid.

The less exciting scientific description (according to Michigan Tech the school located in  the far reaches of the state where smart people are found matriculating)  is that lights are caused by the interaction between the Earth's magnetic field and charged particles from the sun's atmosphere that enter the earth's atmosphere. 
Per MTU:
“A solar flare (energetic particles from the sun) floats through space on the solar wind, eventually penetrating the Earth's magnetic field. Electrons in the magnetic field sideswipe oxygen atoms or nitrogen molecules in the Earth's atmosphere.The bursts of colorful light—the northern lights—are colliding particles (usually electrons) and atoms; at collision, electrons can return to their initial, lower energy state, and in the process, release photons or light particles we know as aurorae.”

As I said, likely more accurate, but not as compelling as believing them to be reflections from the shields of Viking warrior women (Valkyries) transporting the dead to Odin’s  Valhalla.
A far more pleasing image than a ghoulish game of walrus head soccer.

Out of nowhere, they appear, falling like silvery rain in the night sky, swirling and dancing across the northern horizon in complete silence—graceful, delicate, silent, and peaceful. They’re a beautiful surprise. When you experience them, you realize how lucky you are to get to witness such incredible beauty. They shine and glow for a while, and then they’re gone. The memory is all you have left, but it stays with you—amazing, special, and unique.”-Leo Solstrum, Northern Lights

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