Yesterday I read on Amy’s blog Ever so Humble about the current solar storms taking place (lots of great links here!). Tom Montag writes about seeing the Northern Lights in Wisconsin USA – quite far south, I thought.

Now today I see Helsingin Sanomat’s article: Exceptional solar activity produces Northern Lights further south than usual. See the photo of a corona as you read this article, and some good links explaining the aurora borealis* along with some beautiful photos. Don’t miss Pekka Parvianen’s photos* (bottom of page) taken in April 2000 of a most extraordinary one in southwest Finland.

I’ve seen these lights in southern Manitoba, and across the Canadian prairies, but they were the best and most frequent in northeast British Columbia. Seeing auroras always makes me feel that I am experiencing something mystical, awe-inspiring and very other-worldly. Can you imagine what prehistoric people must have felt?

Folklore abounds with explanations of the origins of the spellbinding celestial lights. In Finnish they are called ‘revontulet’, which means ‘fox fires’, a name derived from an ancient fable of the arctic fox starting fires or spraying up snow with its brush-like tail. No matter that in English ‘foxfire’ is a luminescent glow emitted by certain types of fungi growing on rotten wood.

Report a sighting and enter your photos in a contest, at Nordlys and check out the Auroral Mythology page.

Update: More photos at the Aurora Gallery

* (expired links)