Saturday, April 28, 2012

Earthen Lights


The gods of heaven and earth in a violent game of tug-of-war.

That's what I think of when I see images of the northern lights. Which is partially true since the Aurora are formed by the ionization of atoms in the earth's higher atmosphere by the radiation from the sun (solar winds). Not exactly gods but the forces of the earth fighting the forces from the heavens.

Yet one cannot see the divine grandeur of these lights from the images alone. One should see it with the naked eye to see its sublime beauty.

Not that I've seen it already. But I'm about to.

It may sound cliche but if there is one thing you have to see before you die, this is it. At least it is for me. In my college years, I spent almost four years studying the phenomena of gas ionization, of plasma, of these lights. I spent countless nights in the lab, with hundreds of volts, amperes of current, some expensive gases and an artificial vacuum just to create a square inch of these lights. Humans need a lot of valuable resources to recreate it in the lab. But nature still does it better.


This is my plan:

This year, at around October to December I'll book a flight to Norway or Canada or wherever country it would be best to view the Lights. I'll bring a camera, a videocam (my HD cellphone will do) and a sketch pad. I'll stay there for a week or two.

I'll take only three pictures of the lights.

The first displaying only the aurora in the sky.

The second one with trees, houses or anything with the horizon.

The third one with me in the frame.

I'll draw a sketch of the lights. I know it's impossible to really capture the magnificent moving lights but I'll do my best.

I'll take only one video-- a 30-second clip of the moving lights.

And that's it. I'll pack up in the morning and return home.

This blog (tales of decay) is a blog of stories. I posted this entry into this blog because this is still just an imaginary story. In a few months time, if this post disappeared here, it only means this story has come true. And it will be posted somewhere else. With pictures and a video.