Aurora from Iowa

I stepped out at about 9:00 and checked for any auroral activity... saw
what at first appeared to be a lighted bank of clouds in the North, but
one star shone below it, so I hopped in the van and drove a couple of
miles north of my little burg.
A nice bluish arc ran across the north. The big dipper was
entirely visible below it, (the star I'd seen was Duhbe,) and the little
dipper above it. Very little color, fine structure or movement, not a
bad display for this latitude. The view was actually somewhat confused
by the Milky Way rising just South of East, and running high across the
sky, roughly parallel to the arc of blue auroral light. Watched til
about 9:40 and drove back home.
Gotta run out and check again later...
Marty

I stepped out again at 10:30 to take another look... This time, I saw a
curtain of light across the North, stretching high into the sky! I
threw on my jean jacket and hopped into the van again to head north of
town. I could see the display fading a little, and desperately drove a
bit faster than I should have, leaning out the window to see as much of
the display as I could, feeling like I should holler at people to look
north!
I pulled off a fairly dark road, turned off the lights and hopped
out. The lights were still wonderful. A beautiful curtain of blue
light stretched low across the north, curling a bit back on itself in
the northwest... there was a lot of vertical streaking this time, like
searchlights pointing almost straight up. This all changed fairly
rapidly, not so much as I looked, but if I looked away for a little
while, or concentrated on a different spot, I'd see that it had changed
when I looked back. Occasionally, a ray would raise almost as high as
the Milky Way. The highest rays were just east of north, rising through
Merak and Duhbe. Could have had something to do with Santa's
workshop... It was a beautiful night, but it was getting a little
chilly standing still in my jean jacket in the 37 degree F (2.8 C) night
air. The display faded somewhat around 11:00, and I reluctantly headed
back home, knowing that there was probably more to come.
But tomorrow's a workin' day...
Marty again

(Marty) wrote in message ...
I stepped out again at 10:30 to take another look... This time, I saw a
curtain of light across the North, stretching high into the sky! I
threw on my jean jacket and hopped into the van again to head north of
town. I could see the display fading a little, and desperately drove a
bit faster than I should have, leaning out the window to see as much of
the display as I could, feeling like I should holler at people to look
north!

Reminds me of when I was driving from Des Moines to Ames one night and
saw a glow through my windshield. I leaned forward over the steering wheel
and the glow just kept going up. I hit the accelerator and rushed home
as fast as I reasonably could, called up a few people in my club (at 1 am)
and yelled just two words into the phone: "Zenith aurora!" By the time I
got back outside it was half way or more to the southern horizon.

I pulled off a fairly dark road, turned off the lights and hopped
out. The lights were still wonderful. A beautiful curtain of blue
light stretched low across the north, curling a bit back on itself in
the northwest... there was a lot of vertical streaking this time, like
searchlights pointing almost straight up. This all changed fairly
rapidly, not so much as I looked, but if I looked away for a little
while, or concentrated on a different spot, I'd see that it had changed
when I looked back. Occasionally, a ray would raise almost as high as
the Milky Way. The highest rays were just east of north, rising through
Merak and Duhbe. Could have had something to do with Santa's
workshop... It was a beautiful night, but it was getting a little
chilly standing still in my jean jacket in the 37 degree F (2.8 C) night
air. The display faded somewhat around 11:00, and I reluctantly headed
back home, knowing that there was probably more to come.
But tomorrow's a workin' day...
Marty again

No aurora visible from DC last night that I could tell, but then what is
visible with the light pollution around here?

Regards,
Russell

I went out a few times tonight to check things out, but it's been
overcast all night here in west-central Iowa. The sky does look pinker
than usual, but I think I'm just seeing very low clouds reflecting
sodium light pollution. Very dull leaden grey down toward the horizon.
Marty

Marty wrote:
I went out a few times tonight to check things out, but it's been
overcast all night here in west-central Iowa. The sky does look pinker
than usual, but I think I'm just seeing very low clouds reflecting
sodium light pollution. Very dull leaden grey down toward the horizon.
Marty

Hi Marty,

I had incredibly bad luck these last three days - I stay awake to crazy
hours going out every 5 minutes, then decide to take a hour sleep;
when the alarm clock wakes me up I go outside - nothing; then I check
the newsgoups and see that I missed the show. And I stand again
outside, and there is nothing to see, of course.

And then, Marty, the morning comes, and Bz flips upside down, and
all the folks in Europe have a lot of fun. But not me.

And then the next day comes, and I stand outside, and you know the rest
of the story... :-(

So, dear Marty, can you make a nice X20 one and give me a call this
time? Please? Just one more, ah?

(You are _that_ Marty, right?)

- Alex

No luck here in South Dakota as well. The last couple of days have
been very frustrating for me. All of this activity and it has been
overcast for 4 days now. Seems to be my luck now as I've missed the
last 3 major events due to clouds. Even this weekend now is looking to
be clouded over.

Obviously someone here in the upper midwest got a big shiny new scope
and is not telling anyone for fear of retribution.

Mark

On Fri, 31 Oct 2003 00:02:45 -0600 (CST), (Marty)
wrote:

I went out a few times tonight to check things out, but it's been
overcast all night here in west-central Iowa. The sky does look pinker
than usual, but I think I'm just seeing very low clouds reflecting
sodium light pollution. Very dull leaden grey down toward the horizon.
Marty

Hi Alex,
I had incredibly bad luck these last three
days - I stay awake to crazy hours going
out every 5 minutes, then decide to take
a hour sleep; when the alarm clock
wakes me up I go outside - nothing;
then I check the newsgoups and see
that I missed the show.

Yeah, one of the problems with a group like this is that one tends to
read of all the best nights, but the washouts don't get posted as often.
I wouldn't have posted about my cloudy night, but I figured I'd cut it
out and glue it in my observing log. It's still part of the story.
So, dear Marty, can you make a nice
X20 one and give me a call this time?
Please? Just one more, ah?

(You are _that_ Marty, right?)

Yup. that's me. I'll see what I can do for you. Maybe I can call out
for a barbeque taco pizza with onions...
Marty