Star gazing is a classic night time activity from hoods of cars, blankets in parks, hill sides, or the middle of farm fields. But never have I experienced an interactive sky like the one in Iceland. In the last month I have become engrossed in learning the constellations long obscured by the light pollution of my metropolis home. I spend most of my time in two incredibly populated and illuminated areas of the United States, the San Francisco Bay Area where I grew up and Southern California where I attend college. Even though I am an hour east of LA, anyone who has traveled highway 10 can tell you that Southern California is almost completely engulfed by suburban sprawl that does not end at the Los Angeles county border. These two population centers have destroyed any knowledge of or familiarity with the real night sky in my youth. I have only experienced seeing the Milky Way a handful of times when camping in remote national parks and every time it has filled me with a sense of wonder and astonishment. But even that description of my emotions is incomplete because just like the night sky with its billions upon billions of flickering stars it is unquantifiable and incalculable. All I can do is trace lines and connect the dots trying to identify with the generations upon generations of my ancestors that have done the exact same thing. This pastime is very comforting in an ever changing world because I know that I am looking at the same backdrop of glittering dots that the Greeks, Romans and my own ancestors have been looking at for all of human history.
In Iceland I encounter a new addition to this nightly quilt of twinkling starlight. Flashes and highlights of color seemingly raining down from the heavens grace my presence every time I go out star gazing. The Northern Lights are a phenomenon I have heard only tales about and never imagined being fortunate enough to see in anything other than a picture. These brilliant residues of solar particles interacting with the earth’s magnetic field create a new sense of excitement and wonder in a favorite pastime. They have not disappointed me either, showing up whenever the skies are clear enough for pleasurable star gazing. Usually the Northern Lights start out as a gray streak across the sky which can easily be confused with clouds, but as I become more familiar I notice they are positioned vertically, almost as if they are part of a 3D movie popping out of the sky towards me. Slowly the lights start to change color and move, starting with a bright fluorescent green and dancing across the sky almost as if someone is holding a billowing scarf in the wind. The lights slowly shift colors switching between green, yellow, blue and sometimes even red or purple. On rare occasions the lights change colors and dance so fast its almost as if a person is just flipping switches and controlling the whole thing by remote. No matter how much scientific data is collected on why this phenomenon happens, it can never quantify the wonder of seeing the night sky change so rapidly. I have no idea how many times in my life I will see the Northern Lights but I do know that I will never take it for granted and that the same sense of astonishment will return to me just as it does every time I see the dark black of the night sky full of glittering pin pricks that are supposedly burning gas balls much bigger and brighter than our own precious sun. - Philip Bouley
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