Mountain Musings: Finding Wonder in Humboldt’s Dark Skies
Mountain Musings – A guest column by Dottie Simmons who lives in eastern Humboldt County describes life at her rural homestead:
I find solace in Nature, which is one thing living close to the land is full of. I am particularly rejuvenated by sky phenomena – especially the night sky.
One of the great blessings of our area is our access to dark skies. While there have been issues with illuminated cannabis greenhouses, that has mostly stopped in my location leaving me with stars, planets, and the Milky Way blocked only by trees and mountains. I am willing to foray out in the wee hours of the night to track down a special sky event.
Night sky w/moon
Our property is open to the West/Northwest, open with a high horizon to the North. Southwest to East we are up against mountain and ridge. But if we walk down by the barn we have a vast expanse of sky. I go out every clear night to check the heavenly view before bed. And I watch the calendar and skyweather sites for celestial events, which occur all year.
Since I was a child I have gone out to view meteor showers, and we spend mid-August sleeping outside to view our beloved Perseids, a tradition we have passed down through generations.
Currently in the Solar maximum end of the 11 year solar cycle, these recent years have been more exciting than meteor showers and the occasional comet. Even this far south with a high northern horizon we have been dazzled with dim, but visible, Northern lights on a few occasions!
Aurora May 10, 2024
The first time I witnessed this here was (I think) 1989. I was in the barn miking the goats in the early spring when the evening was dark by 7:00pm. Looking out the north facing window I noticed the sky was blood red! I had no idea what I was seeing, and upon returning to the house told my partner I was concerned some radical disaster had happened out on the coast or?!! The next day I discovered there had been a solar event and resulting low latitude Aurora.
The next truly memorable major event was the magnificent comet Hale-Bopp in 1997 that we watched from the deck every night for months! I have had the company of a brave granddaughter at 2:00am as we drove to find a spot we could view Comet Neowise in 2020 (we ended up on South Fork mountain)!
- 2020 Comet Neowise
- 2024 comet A3
The Aurora event of May 10, 2024 was incredible, pale color and pillars just visible to the naked eye and amazing through the camera, followed by a second event on Oct. 10 and then Comet A3 later that month. Wow!! The glory we have witnessed from the Humboldt hills these past couple years.
I must mention traveling to eastern Oregon to meet up with friends and experience the wonder of a total eclipse of the sun in August of 2017. Previously I had only witnessed lunar eclipses, partial and one total ring eclipse, all from here at home.
2017 Solar eclipse
But back to the Aurora – we still may get to see some at our latitude over the course of this year as we move out of solar maximum, so listen to news about Solar CME events and look to the north after dark. You may only detect a faint lighter than normal northern horizon, but the time exposure on phone cameras show better than our eyes can see.
Now, if we just make it to 2045 we will be able to witness a total solar eclipse from our own deck!
- Aurora May 10, 2024
- Aurora October 10, 2024
- Aurora October 10, 2024
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Magnificent
Country people have so much in common, the night sky being one of the most common wonders. When I was a kid in Laytonville, all the family kids during family gatherings, which there were many, would go out into the orchard at night and lay in the hot summer grass and stare at the sky. Crystal clear and bright.
We would tell spooky stories and wonder about the milky way and where it came from, My favorite was about the celestial cow that got impatient and kicked the milk bucket over and it spilled all over the sky.
We had a cow that would kick at the bucket with every opportunity. She was so bad that none of the kids were allowed to milk her. Bummer! LOL.
Now the orchard has a propane distribution plant across from it with very bright lights shining it that direction. The lights are mounted to a wall and shine directly onto our property. I know security and safety are a problem but DAMN!
The official source of the milky way origin is from AI:
“Zeus wanted his mortal son, Heracles, to gain immortality, so he tricked his wife, Hera, into nursing the baby. Upon realizing the child was not her own, she pushed him away, causing her milk to spray across the heavens.”
Poor baby…
As Side note; I now enjoy living with power lines and water pipes. Still in a semi rural area.
I am glad that I am not faced with providing for survival if something doesn’t work.
Fun read and fabulous photos, thank you! Ernie – great story, too!
Nice pics! I used to lay on a yoga mat once a week dusk to dawn and just hang. ✨
Many years ago Joe Rogan had a funny joke; something like imagine if there was only one place on earth where you could see the stars, the line would go on for days, and there they are available to all, and no one’s got the mind to go gaze. 💫
I’ve always been fascinated with the night sky. Having grown up in rural New England the auroras are no strangers. The darkest sky I’ve seen was one dry, clear summer night at my brother-in-laws place outside of Ettersburg in SoHum. The Milky Way was so bright I could read by it – no moon, just starlight. That night we were able to see Triangulum (M33) with our naked eyes. Likely never see that again, now in the Blue Ridge mountains of North Carolina I have to content myself with finding Andromeda.
When it’s the new moon the Milky Way and stars/planets are incredible here. We are lucky indeed.
Seriously – nebula in a simple phone photo!
Sleeping in the Trinity Alps is also a visual feast.