Carpe Diem's Imagination #10, "Aurora Borealis"

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's has been a while ago that I shared an episode of our Carpe Diem Imagination feature, so here it is a new episode of our feature in which the goal is to write a haiku, senryu, tanka or kyoka inspired on a picture, photo, image or painting given.
For this episode I have chosen a photo of 'Aurora Borealis' (or the Northernlight). I came to that choice through a post of Managua Gunn which he posted for our "Prophecy"- episode of today. You can find that post HERE or by clicking on the link in our "Prophecy"- episode.

What is "Aurora Borealis"?

An aurora is a natural light display in the sky particularly in the high latitude (Arctic and Antarctic) regions, caused by the collision of energetic charged particles with atoms in the high altitude atmosphere (thermosphere). The charged particles originate in the magnetosphere and solar wind and, on Earth, are directed by the Earth's magnetic field into the atmosphere.
In northern latitudes, the effect is known as the aurora borealis (or the northern lights), named after the Roman goddess of dawn, Aurora, and the Greek name for the north wind, Boreas, by Pierre Gassendi in 1621. Auroras seen near the magnetic pole may be high overhead, but from farther away, they illuminate the northern horizon as a greenish glow or sometimes a faint red, as if the Sun were rising from an unusual direction. Discrete aurorae often display magnetic field lines or curtain-like structures, and can change within seconds or glow unchanging for hours, most often in fluorescent green. The aurora borealis most often occurs near the equinoxes. The northern lights have had a number of names throughout history. The Cree call this phenomenon the "Dance of the Spirits". In Medieval Europe, the auroras were commonly believed to be a sign from God.


Aurora Borealis

Its southern counterpart, the aurora australis (or the southern lights), has features that are almost identical to the aurora borealis and changes simultaneously with changes in the northern auroral zone. It is visible from high southern latitudes in Antarctica, South America, New Zealand, and Australia. Aurorae occur on other planets. Similar to the Earth's aurora, they are visible close to the planet's magnetic poles.



Aurora Australis

Well ... enough inspiration I think ... and here is my inspired haiku on Aurora Borealis.

sign of the gods
the night painted in thousand colors -
cracking snow

cracking snow
reflects the 'dance of the spirits'
aurora borealis

Nice set I think ... it's very difficult to write a haiku on such a theme as Aurora Borealis, because I haven't seen that for real, but the pictures give a kind of idea how this would look, so that's why I wrote the haiku as I did.

This episode of Carpe Diem's Imagination will stay on until January 5th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will try to post than a new episode of CD's Imagination. This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions.