Feb. 14, 2021, column:
Standing in awe in front of the Creator's masterpieces
At about 10:15 p.m. Monday, Feb. 1, we
glimpsed a green band stretching across the sky from our perch on a wooden deck
at a ski patrol building. We couldn’t stay on the deck more than a couple of
minutes, because the temperature was around 30 – that’s minus 30 degrees
Fahrenheit. The wind chill factor was estimated at up to 60 below.
When it’s that
cold, even if you’re dressed in four layers of clothes with your hands and head
heavily covered, any skin on your face that you leave bare feels as if chilled
air is seeping into your pores with an almost burning sensation.
So Kathy and I, our tour guide and three other tourists retreated back into the small building outside Fairbanks, Alaska, where we could take off our gloves, warm up fogged-over glasses and drink hot cider or coffee.
 |
| The northern lights, or aurora borealis, streaked across the
sky early in the morning of Feb. 2 outside Fairbanks, Alaska. (Photo by Mike Haynes) |
We trudged back and forth through
the door, from warm tables to the more than freezing deck, repeatedly for
almost four hours, watching for that green band to grow – and boy, was it worth
it.
All of us were there to see the northern
lights, more properly called the aurora borealis. And by the time we got in the
van for our young guide to take us back to our hotels, we had seen quite a
show.
Kathy and I took advantage of cheap
flights for a trip to Iceland in 2015 to try to check the northern lights off
Kathy’s – and by extension my – bucket list. It was cloudy all three nights we
were there.
In 2019, we traveled along the coast
of Norway on a Viking ocean cruise called “In Search of the Northern Lights.”
Kathy saw bits of green in the sky from our ship, and we both spotted a narrow,
vertical streak while on a cold excursion on land. But those views were nothing
like you see in photos and videos.
The current ban on visiting most
countries shifted our sights to Alaska. We had to be tested for COVID to enter
the state, but we had people praying that everything would work out, and it
certainly did.
You wonder what ancient people
thought when they first saw green, purple and red curtains undulating in the
sky. Some thought it was the end of the world, and others who have lived in the
far north have come up with creative explanations.
Scholars speculate that Chinese
dragon images originated with the aurora. The Cree tribes in North America
believed the lights were the spirits of departed loved ones. Inuits in Alaska
and Canada expanded on that theory, saying the colors in the sky were spirits
of the dead playing a game with a walrus skull as the ball. One of our guides
told us another group reversed that version, imagining walruses playing with
skulls of people.
In Norse mythology, the aurora was
seen as reflections from the shields of the Valkyrie, the female warriors who
carried Vikings who died in battle to Valhalla, the Norse version of heaven.
Some thought it bad luck to look at the lights, and others thought it was a good omen.
 |
| Mike and Kathy Haynes pose in front of a green sky in Alaska this month as the northern lights performed behind them. (Provided photo) |
Scientifically, the aurora is caused by charged particles from the sun colliding with gaseous particles in the Earth’s atmosphere. The lights occur at both magnetic poles, but more people see them emanating from the Arctic region than from the Antarctic. Scientists make daily forecasts of the likelihood of seeing the lights in certain locations based on weather, solar activity and other factors.
On the night of Feb. 1-2, the
forecast was good at Fairbanks. After we saw that initial green band, the
lights gradually grew into taller and wider curtains until they covered most of
the northern sky. We saw dashes of red, which isn’t common. Kathy was saying,
“Wow, wow,” and we knew we could check the lights off our bucket list.
The aurora stayed in sight for much
of those four hours, sometimes just a streak and sometimes dancing and swaying.
Once, only Kathy and I were outside on the deck with our guide, all three of us
staring up together. As I remember it, the young man commented that the Lord
was painting the sky, and he quoted part of Psalm 19:
“The heavens declare the glory of
God; and the firmament shows His handiwork.”
People of old invented elaborate stories about the lights, but we just felt simple awe that brought tears as we realized how blessed we were to get to see another of the Creator’s masterpieces.
