If you don't know what the lights are, they're basically a natural light show in the sky. They normally only appear to the extreme north and south, such as the Arctic and Antarctica. They occur when charged electrons from solar wind in the thermosphere interact with elements of the earth's atmosphere (okay, no more science until the end of my days). However, on Thursday, there was a solar flare pushed the plasma down to North America and caused the prediction of the lights to possibly be visible in North America Saturday night.



I'm in the tiiiiiiny little GOOD area, luckily. I live in Jersey, which has never had its perks until now.

I'm sure you know what the Northern Lights look like, but here are some pictures for reference. Plus I like looking at pictures of them. They're beautiful.







I went out to try to see/photograph them. I've always dreamed about the lights, having seen movies and television shows where they depicted them as these gorgeous, dancing displays of light and beauty in the sky.

Here is a detailed schedule of what happened.

7:15: (Speaking to my brother) "Hey man, wanna come see the Northern Lights?" Brother freaks out like a small child. He's 17.
7:30: Mother begins to say all these obscene things like "bring a blanket and chairs!"
7:45: Organize camera gear (although not much needs to be organized as I had that afternoon)
7:46: Wait for it to get dark
7:48: Why won't you go down, sun?
7:50: Go on the internet
8:10: Leave warm house. It's not that cold out.
8:15: No, it is that cold.

I stood around for about half an hour, looking at the sky but then I had to go because I was sleeping over at a friend's house and Orphan Black was going to be on soon.

I did not see the lights. I was so crushed.

But man, Orphan Black made up for it. If you haven't seen the show, it's new on HBO and you best go watch it.



It's so good. The main actress is so talented it's ridiculous.