‘The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light
‘The people
who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the
region and shadow of death light has dawned.’
(Matthew 4 v 16)
The lights
that shine in the natural world are very beautiful. In the spring heathland of
Roydon Common, I saw (only once) a Glow Worm. Its ice green light carried over
a great distance, proclaiming availability and possibility.
Once only,
to the west of Bombay, as the sun on the horizon disappeared from sight, for a
brief second I saw … felt almost… flash of green light that is only possible in
the clearest of atmospheres. Once in a lifetime only, may be… signalling
purity, and scarcity? When the sun goes
down, and you face the opposite direction, what looks like a long blue grey
cloud along the rim of the horizon is really the shadow of the earth projected
on its atmosphere. And there were United States’ Carrier jets and Pirates.
Among the mysteries
of the sky at night are the great lights - Aurora Borealis (northern light) and
Aurora Australis (southern). Apparently
like quicksilver, moving at whim, often absent, their movements are far more
predicted than you might think – but not controllable. Their colours are often
yellowish or pale green – formed by the sun’s energy colliding with oxygen
atoms some 60 miles up in the earth’s upper atmosphere, or red/purple with
nitrogen some 200 miles up. The sun emits electrically charged particles can be
measured and their arrival on earth known. The further north, the more likely
to encounter Aurora – and the same is true for the South Pole – but aurora in
Southern and Eastern England are faint in intensity and in frequency… maybe
once every twenty years?... so not totally so.
On Wednesday May 13th
2015, North Norfolk was bathed in light from 9 until midnight (and maybe
beyond). Chris Bell took amazing photographs inland from Foxley Wood. Brian Egan did likewise at Blakeney harbour.
No
doubt there were others, and the hills behind the north Norfolk coast saw the
Sheringham Shoal bathed in lemon yellow, green and purple light. Wonderful.
Comments