There are a two things I remember in Mr Whiteman’s astronomy class in high school.
Mnemonic studying techniques and the aurora borealis.
Roy G. Biv. An acronym to remember the light spectrum. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.
My Very Earthly Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas. It’s how I remembered the order of the planets in the solar system. Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto (which was a planet when I was in high school).
What held my interest more than memorizing acronyms and phrases was learning about the aurora borealis, aka northern lights. I can even remember writing a one page report about the celestial show.
How and why this phenomenon happens still fascinates me to this day.
Long summer days in Alaska makes for lousy aurora borealis viewing. It’s during the fall and winter when viewing is prime.
This past week was spectacular. In fact, it was the best viewing I’ve ever experienced.
The solar storm/eruption was so massive that the aurora was visible as far south as Florida.
It was the duration and the colors that impressed me the most. I usually see a greenish hue for a short period of time and that’s it.
Seeing the aurora borealis always reminds me of my time spent learning in Mr. Whiteman’s classroom. Both bring me joy.
A side note. I’ve been lucky enough to reconnect with Mr. Whiteman on the Kenai River. Little did I know his passion as an educator is only rivaled by his enthusiasm for fishing.
Gales of November