How To Thoroughly Walk Home
A Big Amazing Read challenge.
Hello! This is Everything Is Amazing, a newsletter about science, wild curiosity and terrible dam ideas (not a typo).
On Friday afternoon, UK time, like many thousands of people in the Northern Hemisphere, I was stunned to see my aurora weather app start throwing out increasingly urgent-looking Red Alerts.
Just before sunset the magnetic field strength climbed to over 1,600nT - the highest I’d ever seen displayed for the UK.
Could this be…. Would I finally be able to…?
Oh hell yes.
That’s me at bottom left with my other half,
.As soon as it got dark enough, we sprinted down the road to a slope overlooking the full sweep of the Firth of Clyde, clambered onto it and looked north. At first we couldn’t see anything, and the town’s lights bouncing off the clouds overhead were distracting. Maybe if we squinted, we could see something, far away?
But of course this was a full-blown G5 magnetic storm, powerful enough to be seen halfway down the United States. Here we were in Scotland, on the same latitude as Canada’s Hudson Bay. Looking north was pointing in the wrong direction.
Then we realised it wasn’t reflected light overhead, because there weren’t any clouds. The sky was totally clear - and pulsing with light.
What really blew us away were the colours. I’m used to the idea that your camera phone or digital SLR is the only way to see aurora colour properly, because the light often isn’t quite bright enough for the colour receptors in our eyes (especially if your night vision hasn’t yet kicked in) - but we could eyeball these ones easily. Pillars of red and purple and green, fanning out from a point directly overhead. Visibly colourful. Absolutely incredible.
At its greatest intensity, the sky lit up with a band of green stretching across the whole sky, billowing like a curtain in a breeze. It was so bright.
We stood watching it for half an hour, silent and thunderstruck.
If you want to know more about the science behind auroras, Phil ‘Bad Astronomer’ Plait just announced he’s writing a new series of articles about them over the next few weeks for his newsletter. Go sign up!
(And huge thanks to passer-by Nigel Jack, who had a much better camera than either of us were using on Friday night, and was kind enough to forward me the above photos.)
Secondly, an update to a previous newsletter. Remember those livestreaming “portals” between Poland and Lithuania? Now there are two connecting New York and Dublin!
“On May 8, 2024, a massive interactive sculpture was unveiled at the Flatiron South Public Plaza, a few blocks from the Simons Foundation offices and adjacent to the iconic Flatiron building. Called Portal, this public sculpture that incorporates science and technology connects the cities of New York and Dublin, Ireland. Passersby in both cities will encounter a 24/7 livestream, offering a real-time view of life across the Atlantic Ocean.”
Here’s writer
at the New York end:If you’re in Dublin, you can find the other end at North Earl Street.
Okay! Next edition, there’ll be more stories of science and wonder - but today, a portal of a different sort.
It’s almost the end of launch week for the EiA Big Amazing Read:
Here’s how we’re doing it.
1. What do you need to join in?
In its most basic form: nothing but a copy of the book we’re reading!
This time round, it’s On Looking by Alexandra Horowitz. Buy a copy of it here:
Audible - read by the author!
(Since it’s been around since 2013, I reckon you also have a decent chance of finding a second-hand copy if you go hunting hard enough.)
2. How will it work?
Each book reading will take 3 months - so in the case of On Looking, we’ll cover 4 chapters a month.
If you’re a free subscriber, I’ll publish a monthly guide to the four chapters we’ve covered that month in the form of a newsletter - and you’ll be able to discuss those chapters in the comment section of that newsletter.
(I’m also planning to do something using Threadable, as mentioned last time - but I haven’t nailed down the details yet! I’ll let you know exactly what that plan is when it’s ready.)
If you’re a paid subscriber, we’ll also be going into much greater detail, with a series of nerdy investigations of the different themes the book is built around and the fascinating curiosities that Horowitz unearths in her walks around her block…
…and, once a month, we’ll have a meetup on Zoom for a limited number of paid readers to chew the book over in person, with a recorded replay available afterwards for all paid subscribers.
But I hope the big difference here is what we’ll do. Since Horowitz works so hard to entice you out your own front door to explore your own neighbourhood, if you’re a paid subscriber to EiA, I’m going to be using our book reading as an excuse to challenge you to do the same - starting today, in the back half of this newsletter.
Sound like a fun lark?
Since it’s the end of launch week, the 20% discount for all new paid subscriptions is also about to end, so best act fast if you want to sign up before it runs out:
Okay then! Let’s get to know our own neighbourhoods in a whole new way.