#astrotour

How Science Creates (And You Can See) The Best Aurora Shows On Earth

“It surprises a lot of people who've seen still photos of the aurora when they see it for themselves, with their own eyes, for the first time. Auroral displays aren't static, but rather move quite quickly, like a green, diffuse curtain being pulled and swirled across the sky. The best views of the aurora — and I hate to say it, because most of us will never experience it firsthand — is from above the Earth's atmosphere, in outer space.

But the second best place to view the aurora is from anyplace within about 30 degrees of the Earth's magnetic pole. This includes much of northern Canada and Russia, northern Norway, Sweden and Finland, as well as all of Iceland, Greenland, and (in the south) Antarctica. Even without a spectacular solar event to coincide with them, aurorae in these locations are commonplace. Although you can see them at any time of the year, the best time to view them is in the winter, when you have the greatest number of hours of darkness, when you're coincidentally experiencing clear skies.”

The Sun emits charged particles, in the form of the solar wind, on a continuous basis. Our Earth’s magnetic field deflects most of them away, but when magnetic field lines connect between the Sun and Earth, particles get funneled down into rings around the poles. A coronal mass ejection or solar flare can greatly enhance this, leading to the most spectacular auroral displays human eyes have ever laid sight upon. There are a slew of great locations around the world where you can see them, and I’ll be leading an expedition to one of them, Iceland, next January.

@astrotour​   (  for   kim )     ♡   -   go   your   own   way

@astrotour​    (  for mike )    ♡   -   womanizer 

@astrotour​ (john constantine)          /​      prompt      ➞       “i’m not a good person.”

john’s an interesting character when he gets in his cups. more often than not, he’s saying all the right things to get her to into bed, his hand slipping up between her thighs to coax her. and, yeah, things had started out that way; then john’s phone had rung and the combination of whatever news he’d gotten and the whiskey in his glass had  the combination of whatever news he’d gotten and the whiskey in his glass had caused a drastic shift. the room felt heavier, thick with an awkward tension that rarely ever shows itself when they’re together.

getting him to talk is like trying to pull teeth, putting him on the defensive until they’re both screaming from across the room at each other. at some point, pasha learned that john will either talk about it in his own time, or wallow in it until he feels better. most of time, he chooses to wallow. tonight, he’s chosen to wade in neck deep and sit in it. 

“i think it’s a matter of perspective. not everyone’s gonna think you’re a good person in the moment, but think about all the good you’ve done.” crossing the room, pasha settles herself in his lap, plucking the whiskey out of his hands and setting it aside before sliding an arm around his neck.

“can you be a dickhead sometimes? yeah, but that doesn’t make you a bad person. it just makes you annoying.” reaching out, she strokes her fingers down his cheek before cupping it gently, thumb brushing over his lip. a smile curls over her face. “now, tell me who said that so i can go kick their ass.”