For about 1/2 hour around 9:00 EDT last night, there was a display of Northern Lights that was visible unusually far south. Where I am, north of Boston, it manifested as an intense red glow near the handle of the Big Dipper with a couple of green rays visible. Pretty cool.
The weather on the East Coast is such that even when there is a vivid auroral display, we can count on it to be raining or cloudy, so this was a rare treat!
I’ve seen them often, being just south of Canada. But last nights’ was beautiful. The sky was lit up with a green light, and there were shards of green like sun rays moving through it. Nice.
I saw it!
Last night, of all the places to be, I was out in a field in rural Fauquier County, Virginia, at a gathering of the Northern Virginia Astronomy Club. As dusk fell, I was chatting with one of the amateur astronomers about sighting the aurora, and how rare it is this far south. I’d only seen it once before in my life, in northern Ohio.
Out of a group of maybe 25 people, I spotted it first. I was talking to an astronomer working his 20-inch telescope, and I looked north and said, “Hey, is that aurora or what?” He didn’t want to allow himself to believe his eyes at first, saying there hadn’t been any aurora activity expected now. But he had to admit it was aurora, sure enough. I ran over to the rest of the folks and hollered to look north. Everybody oohed and aahed. The two most accomplished astronomers there were hyperventilating in ecstasy at the sight. It was incredible to see such a brilliant, colorful display so far south. None of us could have expected it.
We saw long vertical streaks of deep rose color that started out at due north, then moved west to engulf the Milky Way, then moved way to the east. Lower at the horizon the glow was greenish. It lasted maybe 15-20 minutes.
I saw it!
Last night, of all the places to be, I was out in a field in rural Fauquier County, Virginia, at a gathering of the Northern Virginia Astronomy Club. As dusk fell, I was chatting with one of the amateur astronomers about sighting the aurora, and how rare it is this far south. I’d only seen it once before in my life, in northern Ohio.
Out of a group of maybe 25 people, I spotted it first. I was talking to an astronomer working his 20-inch telescope, and I looked north and said, “Hey, is that aurora or what?” He didn’t want to allow himself to believe his eyes at first, saying there hadn’t been any aurora activity expected now. But he had to admit it was aurora, sure enough. I ran over to the rest of the folks and hollered to look north. Everybody oohed and aahed. The two most accomplished astronomers there were hyperventilating in ecstasy at the sight. It was incredible to see such a brilliant, colorful display so far south. None of us could have expected it.
We saw long vertical streaks of deep rose color that started out at due north, then moved west to engulf the Milky Way, then moved way to the east. Lower at the horizon the glow was greenish. It lasted maybe 15-20 minutes.
Winding up U.S.-20 out of Dubuque, IA, as I went past Galena, IL, my son and I saw it around 10:30 p.m., CDT. I wasn’t sure that it was the Aurora, either, (especially as we had seen no signs of it while quite a bit farther North in ND, MT, and ID the week before).
I was sitting out in Elk Island National Park (Alberta) last night in front of a crackling fire with a steaming hot mocha in my hands.
I too saw the Aurora Borealis and with no other lights save for that of the fire the view of the stars was also simply incredible.
I saw it last week, maybe Tuesday or Wednesday night. I was driving home from work at midnight, and the entire northern horizon was lit up green. At first I thought it might be a cloud lit up by the cities to the north, but when I pulled off and stopped on a dirt road, I finally decided that it was the aurora. It was a green cloud, with an occasional really tall green streak. There was also a couple bits of red.
It was the first time I’ve ever seen it. It must look spectacular when you’re up nort’ and are actually under it.