Stay Full of Wonder

The Northern Lights are known as the Aurora borealis. An aurora refers to a natural light display in the Earth’s sky visible only in the North and South Poles. The word borealis is Latin for boreal and simply means northern. The southern lights are called Aurora australis. The lights are seen above the two magnetic poles of the northern and southern hemispheres. 

The bright dancing lights of the aurora are the result of collisions between electrically charged particles released from the Sun’s atmosphere that enter the Earth’s atmosphere.  When the electrons reach the Earth’s upper atmosphere, they collide with nitrogen and oxygen molecules.  When the excited electrons calm down they release light.   

The colours vary due to the type of gas particles that are colliding. The most common colour seen is green.  The yellowish-green colour is produced by oxygen molecules located about 60 miles above the earth. 

The northern lights most commonly occur within the geographic area beneath the auroral oval.  This includes Iceland, northern parts of Sweden, Finland, Norway, Russia, Canada and Alaska as well as southern Greenland. 

December through March is usually the best time to observe the northern lights thanks to longer hours of darkness and clear night skies.  You can sometimes see the northern lights starting as early as August.  The best way to view the aurora is to look north after dark.  Just before midnight is an especially good time. The northern lights can be seen in Edmonton, AB from early evening onwards on some very active days. 

On rare occasions, the aurora does make sounds audible to the human ear. The eerie reports of crackling, and buzzing noises that accompany the lights describe an audible experience that one cannot imagine. The ideal position for viewing the Aurora Borealis is north of 65 degrees latitude. 

There really is no difference between the Northern Lights and the Southern Lights.  They both take place over the polar regions and are basically the same.

These are the sayings on the bookmark of the Northern Lights.

• Show Your True Colours

• Glow with Excitement

• Keep Looking Up

• Have a Magnetic Personality

• Get a Charge Out of Life

• Stay Full of Wonder

• Lighten Up!

These are my thoughts as I read the advice from the Northern Lights.

• Show Your True Colours - Be Yourself.  Don’t pretend to be someone you are not.

• Glow with Excitement - Glow. Let your light shine. Be enthusiastic and live life abundantly.

• Keep Looking Up - Keep your eyes on God and follow His path for your life.

• Have a Magnetic Personality - Be someone others will want to be around.

• Get a Charge Out of Life - Charge makes me think of electricity, energy, excitement.  Enjoy what you do and the many experiences and opportunities you have as you live your life.

• Stay Full of Wonder - Be curious and continue to discover the wonders of this world.

• Lighten Up! - Brighten up the world around you!

Enjoy today and keep looking up.  Have a great day everyone.

# living life abundantly    # published author   # travelling tuesdays