Soaring: Lights Over Norway

For years, I thought that aurorae--the northern and southern lights--were pretty stately phenomena. Sure, there were sheets and ribbons colored green and red and pink and purple, so it was clearly a flamboyant and amazing display. But having seen so many static pictures, and then time-lapse videos, I got the impression that aurorae didn't change rapidly. The motion was there, but slow. Then, earlier this year, I saw a video that showed the aurorae moving in real time, and I was shocked. It was a...