Aurora

Australia's own space weather forecasting center sits inside the Bureau of Meteorology and issues the warnings airlines, power operators, and satellite fleets act on.

It's also the reason the Aurora Australis gets spectacular.

The same particles, a much smaller dose.

And before we get into Skywatch, I believe you have a couple of story updates for us.

So, yes, you have the westernmost, but then you have the easternmost because of the international date line.

The aurora borealis, or northern lights, can be seen on average from some point in Alaska 243 days a year.

year in Fairbanks I gotta tell you I've seen the Northern Lights it's overwhelming absolutely overwhelming one-third of Alaska's land is in the Arctic Circle well we talked about the mountain peaks let's talk about seeing Alaska I think the best way to see Alaska is is actually on a cruise ship.

And there's two types of itineraries.

You have the north-south, Anchorage to Vancouver, or vice versa, and the round-trip Seattle.

My cruise dates on the new ship, the Discovery Princess, with the love boat, is August 21 to 28th.

Rates start right now, and I love this time of year.

It's fall foliage and a great chance to see the northern lights.

The night, again, is pitch black, sky full of stars, the moon.

Also, the Aurora Borealis is out in all its glory.

Absolutely beautiful.

But the boredom was getting to me.

"'It looks as if the fairies were planting little shining baby poplar trees "'and watering them with liquid light.' "'Liquid fiddlestick,' said George.

"'He had been to school, so he knew that these were only the aurora borealis, "'or northern lights.

"'And he said so.' "'But what is the rory-bory, what's-its-name?' asked Jane.

"'Who lights it, and what's it there for?' "'George had to own that he had not learned that.

And on the other side of the fence was somebody else's garden, so they got out of that as quickly as they could.

And beyond that was a field where there was another big bonfire, with people standing around it who looked quite dark-skinned.

It's like Indians, said George, and wanted to stop and look, but Jane pulled him on, and they passed by the bonfire and got through a gap in the hedge into another field, a dark one, and far away, beyond quite a number of other dark fields, the northern lights shone and sparkled and twinkled.

Now, during the winter, the Arctic regions come much farther south than they are marked on the map.

In Indian Tense by Abbey Langdon Alger.

Chapter 22, Wabeban, The Northern Lights.

There once lived an old chief called Nsertu.

Tyler Reddick here from 2311 Racing.

After a few days, an old man came to him and spoke to him in his own tongue, asking if he knew where he was.

He answered no.

The old man then said, You are in the land of northern lights.

I came here many years ago.

right.

So somebody, this is, my wife has never seen the Northern Lights.

And I'm making, I'm just talking to some of your folks about making that happen for her the next year, the year after.

This trip is about Alaska, so you're the expert, Colleen.

First week of September, 2027, we have several in our group that would love to see the Northern Lights.

What are the chances to see them at that time of year?

beginning of September is going to be a little difficult.

It's later, right? It's later, and it is getting dark, but it's still pretty light until maybe about 11 o'clock at night at that point yet, but they're losing a lot of daylight, like nine minutes a day, so it goes quick.

right.

So somebody, this is, my wife has never seen the Northern Lights.

And I'm making, I'm just talking to some of your folks about making that happen for her the next year, the year after.

This trip is about Alaska, so you're the expert, Colleen.

First week of September, 2027, we have several in our group that would love to see the Northern Lights.

What are the chances to see them at that time of year?

beginning of September is going to be a little difficult.

It's later, right? It's later, and it is getting dark, but it's still pretty light until maybe about 11 o'clock at night at that point yet, but they're losing a lot of daylight, like nine minutes a day, so it goes quick.

You have a lot of flexibility, and then get the RV camper life going.

My tip, my tip is to learn about the Northern Lights well ahead.

Check the weather every single day because cloud cover ruins it.

So I didn't get to see them.

I mean, it's a question of just sometimes sitting back.

I remember I really experienced it, not so much with penguins, but when I was photographing the Northern Lights.

And you just have to step away from the lens and just sit and watch this amazing spectacle.

But yes, when I was with the penguins, you take some wide angle shots which encompass the whole colony and the mass of penguins.