invisible collides to become spectacular

So, when conditions are just right, there's 10,000 volts in the atmosphere, electrons that have boiled off the sun and are streaming along the earth's magnetic field lines like some superplanetary rollercoaster. When they get going fast enough, they smash into gas atoms in the ionosphere and the gas atoms light up like Christmas. Actually, it's better than Christmas. It's awesome, in the original sense of the word (you know, like a hot dog).

The Tribune said you could see the Northern Lights from Chicago last night, but I'm glad I was in Madison, WI, and I'm glad Alex went out to poop the dog and came back in wondering what the hell was going on, and I'm glad you can get out of city lights in Madison by driving for about 10 minutes. I'd seen the aurora once before, from 30,000 feet up. On a flight to London, I decided I'd try to get some sleep, and thought the pesky sun was already rising ahead of us, but looked outside to see that it was doing something far more subtle and amazing. Six years ago that was, so last night was a real treat.

And I'm thinking that maybe at some point for a year or so I'd like to live way up where it's cold as bones and there's no night in summer and no day in winter and sometimes the sky lights up like it's fucking got something to say.