Saskatchewan is not called “Land of the Living Skies” for nothing, as anyone in this province who’s had their eyes cast upwards can tell you.
In the summertime, there are thunderstorms with lightning galore to keep things interesting, and this year there were storms right into mid-September, which was nice to see.
Year-round, however, are the Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights. These aren’t unique to Saskatchewan, I know, but with our wide open skies, they are a treat to watch on a cloudless night.
There was a display of the Northern Lights on Sunday night which was partially obscured by clouds for a time, but were still very bright once the clouds moved away.
Monday night was a different story, as there were no clouds in the sky at all, and the entire dome of the sky overhead was filled with the Aurora Borealis, with more colours than we normally see this far south.
The phenomenon is caused by streams of particles from the sun, which travel through space and hit the upper atmosphere.
According to Royal Observatory astronomer Tom Kerss, the main colour of green that we see is oxygen in the atmosphere interacting with the solar particles. When we see red, as was visible on Monday night, this is caused by very high altitude oxygen, and according to Kerss, only appears when the aurora is particularly energetic.
Thus, Saskatchewan was very much earning her motto of the “Living Skies”, as the curtains of the Northern Lights covered the sky from east to west, not just to the north.
Normally, the particles are drawn to Earth’s magnetic poles in the north and south, but what we saw covered the entire sky, as clearly there was a very active and strong solar storm.
There was a display like this earlier this year, which I saw at my brother’s place in Golden Prairie, north of Maple Creek in the southwest, with lots of colours evident - and what’s more, these displays were seen around the world.
This latest burst of aurora activity was very nearly as strong as that earlier one, and social media had photos posted from all over the province as people saw varying shades of colours.
We enjoy our hours of sunshine and nice sunsets, but the nighttime can also bring great beauty.
