Knocking April’s solar eclipse off its pedestal entirely, a geomagnetic storm shuttling across earth’s atmosphere cast an aurora borealis across the skies between the two poles over the last weekend. Countless people have captured the vibrant colors dazzling the night sky from China to Poland to the United Kingdom to the southern United States, basking in the unexpected reality of witnessing the solar event far from the auroral ovals that encompass the Arctic and Antarctic.
And then there’s us in parts of New York City, missing out on probably a once-in-a-lifetime event because it’s only ever overcast and raining around here these days. For every jaw-dropping photo by an amateur iPhone photographer captivated by the light show, there’s an equally salty meme about not being able to see the aurora borealis due to overcast skies or light pollution.
In the interest of presenting both perspectives, here are a few stunning photos from around the world to prove that I’m not a total spoilsport, followed by a variety of aggressive copes from dour doomscrollers with compounded FOMO.
Though the two events were almost exactly a month apart, I think we can agree that the aurora borealis has stolen the spotlight for the year and left the total (or partial) solar eclipse in the dust. Big year for rare cosmic experiences that likely won’t happen again in our lifetime!
That being said, as one of millions whose view of the northern lights was obstructed by light pollution and clouds, it stings quite a bit to know that I’ll have to spend bank in an attempt to see them and not even have that experience guaranteed.
Apparently, such feelings have us relying on any necessary points of comfort in order to cope …
turns out you can only see the northern lights if you’ve been repressing gay thoughts
— Vinny Thomas (@vinn_ayy) May 12, 2024
Including becoming delulu as the solulu:
Perhaps the strongest (and most valid) cope is a textbook example of Aesop’s “Sour Grapes” idiom. To be fair, I did see another post that said something along the lines of “what have British people ever done to deserve the aurora borealis?” which I can’t really argue with, either.
If you saw the northern lights last night it’s because you’re a bad person
— skin destroyer (@gloomingly) May 11, 2024
But it’s always important to have a sense of humor about your misfortunes, since it was never really that serious anyways! (These grapes are neither sweet nor sour.)
I hear the same treatment works when trying to get your pot of water to come to a boil on the stovetop.
And with the powers of photo manipulation and AI in our hands, we could simply ~bend the truth~ and no one would know, right?
But sometimes, missing out on the main event can bring you to an even more important and special sideshow:
