Item: A powerful geomagnetic storm in May 2024 caused the Aurora Borealis to be visible for millions in the United States, from Florida to California, and around the world at latitudes that normally do not see this display. The Aurora Australis was also at a historic range of visibility. For three days, the world witnessed the most spectacular show of Northern and Southern Lights many have ever seen.

It was August 2001. My wife and two children were headed home from a short trip to our forty-ninth state, the Alaska Adventure! I would call it in the Photo Page I would set up and post to my website not long after. We had jammed as much as we could into a three day trek, which was all we thought that our son, who was not quite five, and our daughter, who had just turned one, could handle. It was our tenth wedding anniversary and we had done the entire travel there and back and hotel stay with points from loyalty programs, earned through my numerous business trips. And on top of that, the customer service representative at the airline helpfully pointed out that although flights in coach were blacked out from redeeming points, First Class was not, and it was not that many more points than the standard award. So it all came together as if it was meant to be; although our daughter would probably not remember it and our son would have some sense of the trip, we were taking them to Alaska.

And all too quickly we were on the “red eye” back. Given how much twilight there is in Anchorage in August (official sunset is not until after ten o’clock!), we didn’t take off in total darkness. It didn’t matter, though, as three of us were out within moments of the aircraft’s departure, comfortably held by the generous seats that still were a distinguishing characteristic of First Class.

You can probably guess which one of us was still awake.

It’s well known in our family and among my close friends that I basically do not sleep on planes. The best I can do, if I’m lucky, is drift off for a while. I have been told that what I think is only a few moments is actually longer than that, but the effect is still the same: I feel as though I have not slept a wink even if I had.

So my wife and kids were out, and I was drifting back and forth and generally feeling really uncomfortable, even in a First Class seat that was far superior to anything back in the main cabin. This went on for what seemed like days, but was probably only about an hour.

As part of the pre-flight greeting, the pilot had told the passengers that since this was an overnight flight, he would only interrupt the proceedings with announcements if there was something critical, until when we started our approach into Chicago and needed to get the aircraft ready for descent and then landing.

So I was quite surprised to hear the aircraft’s speakers activated and the pilot say, very quietly:

“Northern Lights, left side.”

All of the window shades were down, another courtesy to the passengers, who were probably all asleep. I wondered for a moment how much brightness would be let in if I raised the shade at my window just a little bit. I crouched down into the seat and gave it a try, exposing just a few inches of the window.

And there they were.

I had never seen as striking a color green. Waves of it danced across the sky, moving to their own rhythm, pulsing, expanding, contracting, staying in place. Even from my tiny vista point—I didn’t want to raise the window shade any more than I had—it was a spectacular panorama.

It was probably only a few minutes, but time stood still as the Northern Lights paraded before me. I pulled the window shade back down and looked over at my wife. I recognized her sleeping as the kind from which I would not be able to wake her easily. Looking back, I suppose I might have made a different decision, for there never was another opportunity to view the Northern Lights together.