By Vurdlak on May 27, 2006, with 133 Comments
Mike Hollingshead is s storm chaser from Nebraska. Just came across some of his amazing aurora images via digg. They sure look unreal! For thos of you who didn’t know, Aurora is a glow in the night sky. It is also known as “aurora polaris” or in northern latitudes, as “aurora borealis” or “northern lights”. It is caused by electrons of typical energy obtained by the electrons passing through a voltage difference. The light is produced when they collide with atoms of the upper atmosphere. Here are some of Mike’s photographs, but be sure to visit his website for whole-lot-more of them! Image below gave me impression of a Ghost Ship comming out of the fog!
(22 votes)
Hey why dont I ever see pictures of the Aurora Australis anywhere around here? it’s just Borealis, Borealis, Borealis…
comment 71- I don’t have one word to create peace but 2
“stop arguing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
lol
You all sound very smart so Im going to quote something smart from grey mater on ben 10…
“What’s your
malfunction…probably something stupid like the DNA splicing replicator copping a fragment of demino acid sequencece (gasp)!!! So this is what it’s like to be smart”.
No really I know who made this. You think it was God or the Magnetic field of budhha or the atheist god (which doesn’t exist). No, the answer is simple…
Crab people!
Carb People! crab people! run away from the crab people…
i have an idea lets all say o pretty lights in the sky up there lights just lights no one gives who or what created them they r pretty colored lights yes very pretty colorful lights ……. in the sky…… who made them idk but yea……..pretty
Sonicblaze
there is no god but Allah(muslim god) AND muhammed is his messanger.
only someting so great and soo powerful could of have done something like this. Dear readers i am not telling you guys to except Islam straight away i am only saying learn about our religion befor criticisng it.
Now listen to this:
There is only one leader of Australia and he is John Howard. there is only one queen, one prince, one king and one princess of Australia. if there were two three or eve more then there would be war. Because one would want to do something and other wouldnt want to do that something. So that means there is only ONE ruler of the universe and that ia ALLAh the all merciful and the all forgiver
Dear readers please here me and follow the straight path.
with love and respect a muslim girl age 14 who is in love with her religioun
David
i so adree with you what you have said made me have a huge grin on my face thank you a lot.
Aight peeps, let’s all take a chill pill and enjoy the pretty lights. Simple.
Beautiful but not really classified as an illusion. Just something us Northeners get. Though I’ve never seen it that intense where i live…
To anonymous up there… of course there’s a God. Allah is one of his names…I think. See, I’m not sure, but I think we believe in the same God, we’re just confused about the details.
To quote: “With love and respect” a 14 year old Christian girl who loves her God.
ok to comment #69, you are being a huge hypocrite by saying that you are Christian yet you dont believe God created EVERYTHING. God did create every little detail on this earth and if you say you are a Christian and you don’t believe that then you are a major hypocrite saying that your a Christian. no Christian can belive that God didn’t create everything. all true Christians know that He spoke it and it was so.
To those who truly are not “enlightened”, I submit the following…. (I pray you will not leave this earth the sleepwalker that you are now.)
Sir Isaac Newton had an accomplished artisan fashion for him a small scale model of our solar system which was to be put in a room in Newton’s home when completed. The assignment was finished and installed on a large table.
The workman had done a very commendable job, simulating not only the various sizes of the planets and their relative proximities, but also so constructing the model that everything rotated and orbited when a crank was turned.
It was an interesting, even fascinating work, as you can image, particularly to anyone schooled in the sciences.
A scientist-atheist friend of Newton’s came by for a visit. Seeing the model, he was naturally intrigued, and proceeded to examine it with undisguised admiration for the high quality of the workmanship.
“My! What an exquisite thing this is!” he exclaimed. “Who made it?”
Paying little attention to him, Sir Isaac answered, “Nobody.”
Stopping his inspection, the visitor turned and said: “Evidently you did not understand my question. I asked who made this?”
Newton, enjoying himself immensely no doubt, replied in a still more serious tone. “Nobody. What you see just happened to assume the form it now has.”
“You must think I am a fool!” the visitor retorted heatedly, “Of course somebody made it, and he is a genius, and I would like to know who he is.”
Newton then spoke to his friend in a polite yet firm way: “This thing is but a puny imitation of a much grander universe whose laws you know, and I am not able to convince you that this mere toy is without a designer and maker; yet you profess to believe that the great original from which the design is taken has come into being without either designer or maker? Now tell me by what sort of reasoning do you reach such an incongruous conclusion?”
sabretoothmagic.com
Why even argue. Bottom line: God believers can’t prove God exhists. God non-believers can’t prove God doesnt exhist. Simple as that. So enjoy life and what comes of it.
Why all this god stuff? its just magnetic poles and solar winds.
Even if God was real (which I personally doubt) I don’t think he would’ve been sitting up there a few weeks in and be thinking “Yeah this planet is pretty… but it really needs some P-ZAZZ! I know! Let’s put some pretty lights here… and over here too! Et voila!!”
Seriously.
PEOPLE!!!!
ITS PRETTY!!!!
LIVE WITH IT!!!!
god-beliver-people: wouldn’t He, if he exists just want you to enjoy it, not turn it into a debate and lose the beauty???
non-god-beliver-people: cant you just let people belive what they want to belive??? if they think it was caused by someone, let them belive it!!!
its an optical illusions website!!
its not a place to air your religious veiws!!!
everyone is not the same!!!
live with it!!!
i would tell you what i think but none of you will care
and no one will read this
bye
CowGirl is right this is an illusion website not a religion discussion. And anyways I noticed if I look at them carefully it sort of looks like they are moving a little bit. Like those circle illusions.
PEOPLE!!! It doesn’t matter if you believe in God or you don’t; just enjoy the pics and keep your religious opinions to yourselves!
Remember: arguing on the internet is like running in the Special Olympics… eve if you win, YOU’RE STILL RETARDED!!!
There is only one thing all you people and every one in the world have in common: HOPE.
Now that is something really interesting that makes christianity worth thinking about. What if you only believe in science? You die. No HOPE.
And about seeing God: If a blind man cannot see grass, does that mean the grass isn’t there? Though, by hearing people talking about grass and probably by feeling it, he is almost certain about the existance of grass. He has got TRUST and HOPE that there is grass.
Do you all really think we believe in God just to get any meaning in our lives? No one ever said religion made life easier. If you only believe in yourself, what is left when you sink into depression, you get to disrespect yourself, what have you got left to believe in? God gives HOPE, a way out, an emergency exit.
I thank God for creating the Aurora Borealis. I’ve seen it myself in Norway and was silent.
But I also thank Him for creating it, for all you people, how bad you might think about him, all started to think about life, God, and probably about HOPE.
If you tell people to keep their religious opinions to themselves, then that’s like me telling people to keep all of their opinions to themselves.
That’s all it is….our OPINIONS. You don’t have to believe it, you can hate it, but it doesn’t matter what YOU think, now does it? It’s not like your saying “You’re stupid and wrong” is going to change that person. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. You don’t have to like it, and it’s okay to express your own opinion on someone else’s opinion, just don’t get all messed up going nuts because this is just a friendly chat, remember? :D
For my opinion….I think God’s awesome, and so are these pics of the Aurora Borealis. Some of you people are atheists and think that the earth’s magnetic field is the only point of praise here. I’m not going to tell you that you’re wrong and stupid, because my saying that won’t change anything. Say whatever you want….That’s what “comments” are, right? o_O
Oh…and Armando – you’re a jerk for making fun of retards. Just my opinion.
That is cool how in the 1st and 2nd pics the flag looks like it is melting into the aurora. Those are beautiful.
“if you don’t believe in God, where do you think you go after you die?…”
I, most unfortunately, must be going to hell in that case.
Some people say that the lights are caused by spirits, or God.(I’m a christion.)0:)
These coloured lights in the sky (Northern Lights) are caused by the angle of U.V rays penetrating the earths magnetosphere.. cool fact..
God IS amazing…Screw you Pete. I don’t see how people can’t just believe in God, they just have to make up excuses for his miracles.
i dont see the gost ship
“We made the sky a preserved and protected roof yet they turn away from Our Signs”. Kuran,Surah Al-Aubija 32. 1432 years ago.
In the Kuran God calls our attention to a very interesting attribute to the sky.This attribute to the sky has been prooved by scientific reserches done in 20th century. The atmosphere surounding the earth serves crucial function for the continuity of life. While destroying many meteors big and small as they aproach the earth.Prevents them from falling to earth and harming living things.There are numerous facts proven on other dangers passing through, like the ultra violet rays and the freezing temperatures from the space.
“Which is it, of the favors of your Lord that you deny?” Kuran.
This God dude is one Photoshop master.
it isn’t photoshop
HOW CAN SOMETHING COME FROM NOTHING?
It’s life’s biggest illusion. One we will never figure out. Optical illusions should show you how our brain can be so forced on seeing things one way that it’s a shock when you see the illusion of it.
I find it funny that ‘Angel Eyes’ doesn’t believe in God even though the Angels are a part of him. The jokes on her, calling people idiots even though she can’t spell fields…moron
oh my god … oh … yeah … its me
ahhh. science is beautiful
try this cool experiment ,.. you buy a loto ticket every day and pray to GOD to win ,.. ill sit at home and pray to myself that you lose ,.. time will tell all who is mightyest
All of u who think god doesnt exist, think about this… “what created earth?”, u guys think its the big bang, BUT, who created the tiny atoms that needed to collide in order to created the universe? law says that matter cannot come from nothing therefore there must be a god who created the universe. there is no other possible explanation, so all u science geeks out there, just heed my warning. if you do not think there was jesus, or that he saved people just because it goes against all the laws of science, you’re wrong. god created science, so surely he sould be able to change it!
who created god then, idiots… another god? and who created that one??
believing in god goes nowhere, its a fast answer to lazy fuckers who love ignorance
The pictures are nice. These pictures are pretty. And all of the comments written on this page are witty. The end. I love arguments. Debates. I believe in God as well. I don’t need proof. It’s a “belief” and that’s good enough for me. :) Wouldn’t you like to think you get to go to Heaven when you die? I do.
You are more likely to get struck by lightning than win the lottery, so your bringing up something totally different. I’m pretty sure God doesn’t control everything. Like probability.
No, there is no such thing as god, or multiple gods. Time and space and atoms and whatever, they were always here and always will be here. Then, yes, this appeared by chance. You would think that in infinite time, one thing as beautiful as this is bound to happen.
“All of u who think god doesnt exist, think about this… “what created earth?”, u guys think its the big bang, BUT, who created the tiny atoms that needed to collide in order to created the universe? law says that matter cannot come from nothing therefore there must be a god who created the universe. there is no other possible explanation, so all u science geeks out there, just heed my warning. if you do not think there was jesus, or that he saved people just because it goes against all the laws of science, you’re wrong. god created science, so surely he sould be able to change it!”
If God created Matter, then who created God? Your logic is circular and therefore flawed.
(personally does not believe in god, but not bringing it into this)
I think it’s beautiful, but not sure why you put it on an illusions site. shouldn’t we just be glad it’s here?
yeah, but it’s much funnier arguing, won’t stop you guys.
*sigh* rebutting creationist nonsense whilst looking at truly spectacular natural sight that border on the sublime, never gets old just repetitive.
Aurora are the result of highly charged particles ejected from the sun, interacting with the gasses (plural) in our atmosphere at different altitudes.(red for Nitrogen and green for Oxygen, I believe…)
The ionised plasma is carried in magnetic loops through space which interfere with the Earth’ magnetic field, distorting it, which is how the aurora wander over so wide an expanse. However because the field strength of any magnetic core is strongest at the poles (where the field lines narrow) that is where most of the energetic particles are concentrated which is why the lights are mostly concentrated in the polar regions. However it is not unknown, during particularly powerful solar storms for example, for the aurora to extend to the equator (as happened in 1859 – history buffs.)
In the words of one far wiser than I: isn’t it enough to see that the garden is beautiful without having to imagine their are fairies at the bottom of it too?
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The koran and the bible are about as scientific as my little finger.
It’s classic apologetics to claim that these books contains insights later confirmed by science, and it’s all of it false or at the very least a claim made in abject ignorance (or possibly deliberate obscurantism) of all the things they get wrong (like in the Koran, the moon is implied able to produce it’s own light rather than reflecting the light of the sun – Sura 71:16 – and the moon, like the sun, orbits the earth – Sura 36:40 – well half right I suppose) There’s also the notable absence of anything *useful* for example a germ theory of disease. How many millions could have been saved in God had imparted that one to Moses or if Gabriel had been a bit more chatty with Mo’?
If anyone tell you these books are scientific, pity them in their ignorance.
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>>matter cannot come from nothing therefore there must be a god who created the universe. there is no other possible explanation, <>god created science<>I believe in God as well. I don’t need proof. It’s a “belief” and that’s good enough for me. :) Wouldn’t you like to think you get to go to Heaven when you die? I do.<<
I don’t expect a reply – but what if your beliefs are wrong? how would you ever find out or check?Shouldn’t we strive to at least have informed ourselves about matters in order to inform our beliefs?
You speak of getting into Heaven (on the matter of eternal life I can think of nothing more stupefying or demeaning – but anyway) but contrasting it with your above statement, would god -if it existed in the manner and form you expect – not welcome someone into Heaven who had critically examined their beliefs and arrived at their conclusion through deliberation of amongst other things the evidence for holding such a belief – over someone who believed (howsoever fervently) without ever engaging in such inquiry. Why exactly do you expect to get into Heaven on this basis?
Not that I accept such a concept is even plausible let alone evidenced and certainly not desirable particularly with it’s correlate.
But I should think god would esteem critical thought, why do you not?
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That quiet enough debunking of religions for one evening. The Northern lights are an amazing – and yes, terrifying – feature of our world (though by no means restricted it to it – aurora have been observed on Jupiter for instance) we should be lifted and enriched by our knowledge of what they truly are and not live in fear of ancestral ghosts of the north, or give into to the simplistic and childish embrace of mystery preferred by the creationists. The rainbow is no more unweaved for having explained it, and the aurora are no more terrestrial for our knowing their place in the sky; rather they demonstrate, in truly celestial sense, our tiny planets place on the grand cosmic stage, and in this they are illuminating in more ways that one.
beautiful…=)
5thats the nothon lights not that illlosione
I have to see this in real life someday.
Hah, I love it how people call others idiots when explaining things the proper way and not the religious way, just because you don’t understand the physics. Even more amusing considering that the aurora is a quite simple principle, blaming it on god is like saying that 81^(1/2) =/= 9 just because you yourself can’t do the calculations in your head.
Though, this smells photoshop. The northern lights are not quite this bright usually, as far as I’ve seen. But it may well be possible, just not likely.
It really irks me that atheists claim that theists’ logic is flawed when it comes to Creation. Some ask where God came from. I think it’s much more likely that an omnipotent God Whose power is unimaginable could have created the universe than primordial soup coming from who-knows-where accidentally turning into dust particles, those particles accidentally entering spontaneous combustion and creating a Big Bang, that Bang accidentally creating large dense rocks in space, those rocks accidentally turning into planets, and those planets accidentally beginning to support life. God has always been there. I think such a being as God needs no source of existence. But where does primordial soup come from, the primordial can?
idiots. that’s not god, it’s caused by sun rays.
pretty pictures. :) i dont believe in god, and i never will… but oh well, whatever works for you. it is comforting for some people to tell themselves theres an afterlife or a higher power looking out for that, but i dont need that. whatever makes you happy. :)
there is one thing that I find funny about theologists and other religious guys. First off, God is an obvious metaphor for the universe. Many things in this world are to great for the human mind to understand, therefore by giving these unfathomable things a name, we can suddenly imagine them, believe in them and understand them.
Second, someone stated somewhere above that “matter cannot come from nothing therefore there must be a god who created the universe”. True, matter cannot come from nothing. But that is NOT a reason to think that a God created them, for what the F is God created from? He cannot certainly be a “nothing”, you said so yourself. And what created the thing that created god? see, everything moves in cycles.
Look at the clock. At midnight the clock starts over 00:00. Look at the calendar. It restarts after 365 days. It doesn’t really restart, for it is continuing all the time. But time is NOT linear either, because that leaves us with a nothing at the beginning of the timeline, and eternity ahead of us…and what if that timeline stops? what do we get then…nothing?
What I am trying to say is, time moves in a big cycle, or loop. Time though, in reality, doesn’t exist, I just use the word time to simplify things. Just like a priest says God instead of the Universe. If you think for a while, everything (at least all I can think of) fluctuates and moves in cycles. Civilizations, life, planets, energy.
Therefore time is a quite faulty value, for there is no beginning and no ending. If there is a value 0 and in contrast a maximum value, then time cannot be truly cyclical, for this means that the minimum value and the maximum value will have to meet where the cycle “ends” or “restarts”. And we all know that max and min are each others counterparts…placing these next to each other does not work.
I won’t go more in depth, and I have been trying to keep my comment short, for I know that half of the commentators won’t read my comment or completely disagree. I am just sharing my opinions and beliefs.
________
Before I stop I also want to say that I do not believe in heaven or hell either. Think of this: in the Bible (I haven’t read any other holy texts so I cannot use them as examples here unfortunately), there are a lot of advices and rules of how to live as a true Christian.
Living truly can shortly be described as living after the seven holy virtues, be a giving person, not be tempted into sin, and so on, I think most christians should know what a true Christian is, so I hope I don’t have to explain further about that.
ANYWAY, if everyone (I mean EVERYONE) on this planet lived as a true Christian, would there be a need for heaven, or would we not already be there? I don’t think heaven is a place in the clouds…No, heaven is to me more like a descriptive name referring to the beauty and surrealism of the skies; remember that when the Bible was written, air travel was obviously not possible.
Also one should not take the words in the Bible too seriously, and definitely not literary! If you have read the bible you will find a LOT of symbols, and not to mention all the metaphors.
What are these symbols and, metaphors good for? To make a greater vision more easy to fathom and understand, especially when targeting low-educated people. In my mind, the Bible is just a simple way to describe the world, to explain the wonders of nature and how to live in harmony with each other.
However, when brought from generation to generation, humans tend to distort fact and amplify the details they like. For example, there was a study where a test person told a story about a theft to another test person, who then told another…and so on. (sorry I have forgotten the reference to this) Anyway, in the beginning the criminal in the story was a white man robbing a black man. In the end, after passing through 15-20 test persons, the criminal was a black man stabbing a white man. Notice the difference!?
If we apply the same behaviour on the Bible and other Holy texts, you could easily understand how easy mistakes happen when telling a story and bringing it to the next generation. I think the modern version of religion is a very amplified version of the original. Take Buddhism as an example. Buddha was never a god, but in the end he became in the eyes of many buddhists, a God.
Exactly what I was thinking Eyeless! That’s just so true. But other people don’t get it. :)
Maddi says God is in a good mood today! Gabby scoffs at the thought of God really existing (athiest) and smacks maddi upside the head…
Neither side will ever give in. One side runs on emotion and the hope to be spared from death. They love feel-good stories and can be led anywhere by a teller of such stories.
The other side sees the simple realities all around, and are driven to seek all truths.
Both sides are identical except for the paths of electric currents through their minds.
One side invents, the other searches.
One side wishes, the other creates.
And by the way, God did not make man in his own image, man made God in his own image.
Flame on, friends. You’ll get nowhere ever.
Nature has a way of telling us we should look out for her…