Boorish Borealis

This rather striking pic is making all the space blogs today - technically, a picture of the Aurora Australis, but that didn't work for my joke, AND the educational opportunity of pointing out the different names for the same phenomena in the Northern (Borealis) and Southern (Australis) Auroras.

Anyways, this is one the best pics I've seen of this phenomena from space. Dramatic! So you know, all aurora represent solar radiation being channeled by the Earth's magnetic fields towards the north/south poles, and thus the lights. It represents the barest fraction of the entire energy being directed at us by these solar events, the vast, vast majority of which is deflected entirely by the Magnetic Field, which is really our sole provider and protector in this crazy Universe. So maybe say a prayer tonight for the magnetic field - it's weakening!