Northern Lights 'ghoul' pictured in Norway

[snopes]

A ghoulish image of the Northern Lights - the natural phenomenon also known as Aurora Borealis - has been taken in Norway.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...in-Norway.html

[Floater]

Sorry, but what is ghoulish about that picture?

[Don Enrico]

When you picture the bright spot in the upper center as a head, it looks like a human figure throwing up it's arms while being bend in the hips. Somewhat. If you squint your eyes. And use your imagination.

If that isn't ghoulish, what is?

Don Enrico

[Jay Tea]

It looks kinda Munchian, but given the nature of these shifting patterns it's pretty much a given that the human eye is going to re-interpret them. Even in serious 'pushing it' territory such as this

I've only ever seen a watery Aurora, nothing like the full glory of it, and still you could see all sorts of patterns and shapes forming.

[Andrew of Ware]

Like Jay Tea I think the picture looks like an Edward Munch picture. It certainly reminds me of The Scream. Maybe an Aurora Borealis like that inspired him.

Since moving to the south of England I have only ever seen two Aurora Borealis (sp?), and both of these were very faint. When I was young and living in the north of England I use to see them two or three times a year. The first time was in about 1960 when I was about five. I had just seen that Quatermass episode with a gigantic phantom creature looking like the Aurora Borealis and I was a very frightened five year old. (From where I looked it was in the sky over the churchyard. Spooky.)

[Jay Tea]

Originally Posted by Andrew of Ware

Since moving to the south of England I have only ever seen two Aurora Borealis (sp?), and both of these were very faint. When I was young and living in the north of England I use to see them two or three times a year.

That's pretty cool - i've never seen the lights in England, and had to be quite some ways up Scotland before I got my first UK glimpse...

[Stoneage Dinosaur]

Originally Posted by Andrew of Ware

Since moving to the south of England I have only ever seen two Aurora Borealis (sp?), and both of these were very faint. When I was young and living in the north of England I use to see them two or three times a year.

Originally Posted by Jay Tea

That's pretty cool - i've never seen the lights in England, and had to be quite some ways up Scotland before I got my first UK glimpse...

I've seen them here (just below 55 degrees north), only the once but they were quite pronounced, not as colourful as the pic in the OP article but there's still something magical about actually seeing them.

[Andrew of Ware]

I think light pollution in towns, even in northern England, means that even when the lights appear they are faint. In 1960 I lived in a suburb of Liverpool - Halewood, which was then on the edge of the built up area - and so astronomical features (such as the northern Lights, shooting stars, the Milky Way, etc) could be seen quite clearly.