The vast landscapes of Bend National Park boast beautiful views both across the landscape and in the sky, and during a recent hiking trip we experienced the Aurora Borealis, a comet streaking across at sunset and, a rocket launch for sunrise.
Camping under stars, and aurora borealis
While camping in the Paint Gap area of the park, an aurora storm was developing and heading south. The Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) is difficult to catch in Texas to begin with. The predictions were that the storm would be strong enough to reach Texas and beyond. The Aurora storm was strong enough to provide an enitre night of changing colors across the desert floor.
comet on the horizon
Concurrently, Comet C/2023 A3 was making its pass across earth that same night. Just above the horizon to the West we spotted the comet and its trail just after sunset with the desert sky highlighting the background. As if it were not moving, even though its travelling at about 150,000 mph we had it in view for most of the night.
rocket launch for breakfast
As if this were incredible enough, in the waking hour just before sunrise, A Space X rocket was launched that morning from South Texas and we caught its trajectory heading towards space. As we sat with a coffee in hand and a rocket heading to space in the background, we reflected on the incredible chances of three events happening the same night. We calculated that it was once in a lifetime.
Conclusion
We did not plan to camp out and catch this though, the benefits of being outdoors pays you back with things like this occasionally and experiences and views that stories and pictures cant justify their beauty.
#Bigbendnationalpark #Hiking #Northernlights #Desertsky
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