Blue Vega and green auroras in a glass sphere

As nearly every day, I was out to look for Northern lights also last night. Through clouds I could make out some green but the wind really got to me. It was so cold, it felt it was going right to my bones. Being tired as well, I went back to get some sleep for the coming days.

What now?

Or so I thought. I just got comfy in my bed when a good friend sent a message with one word. Revontulia. That is the Finnish word for ‘Northern lights’. Dang, what now? I checked the live webcams from my aurora realtime forecast page and saw only little movement. So I’ll skip the night. But there was one thought in my mind which left me restless and I couldn’t grasp what it was. After a while it hit me, the glass sphere! I jumped out of bed, got dressed and ran out.

Dropped it!

For years I had a glass sphere and I used it only in daytime. It was very heavy and so it stays mostly back home. Recently I got a lighter one from Lensball and I finally wanted to use capture a Northern lights scene. So I packed my gear into the car, drove off into the darkness and stopped at the first good spot. I set up everything which turned out to be more tricky than I thought. I dropped the glass sphere from 1,5m onto ice! Luckily it didn’t even get a scratch, I think. Here is the photo I took:

I’m sure I don’t have to ask, but do you see the bright thing on the top left? That’s the star Vega. All the landscape and stars are blurred in the photo, so it seems huge. A few facts to Vega: It belongs to the constellation Lyra and is the 2nd brightest star in the Northern night sky, being ‘only’ 25 light years away. You can find more facts on space.com.

Here is one more photo of Vega with the constellation Lyra outlined:

Oh, one more thing, did you find Vega in the glass sphere? Always remember to seek and enjoy nature’s beauty – it’s worth it!
Thomas

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