[AZ-Observing] Aurora in Flagstaff

I'd been keeping an eye on various aurora forecast websites, all last night, 
when a major spike in the CELIAS/MTOF proton monitor (SOHO) graph 
(http://umtof.umd.edu/pm/ ) prompted me to head out to have a look for the 
northern 
lights. Before going any further, I must admit to not having the first clue 
what 
that chart means. But I figured a big spike might mean, "Get out and look!" 
This 
was at 6:45 UT (11:45 pm MST, 28 October).
I'd already loaded the Rodeo with my camera, tripod and a folding chair. So 
off I was on a two block drive to Cedar Avenue, which runs roughly east-west 
along the northern edge of Flagstaff. I pulled onto the sidewalk and parked. 
Then, carried my gear about 20-meters into a field to setup. The time was about 
7:15 UT (12:15 am MST, 29 October).

By 7:25 UT, I was getting pretty well dark adapted and detecting a subtle 
reddish hue to the sky above the San Francisco peaks. There was even an 
occasional shimmer. But the real show was still about an hour away.

At 8:35 UT (1:35 am MST, 29 October), the sky immediately above the San 
Francisco peaks brightened considerably. At first this was a white glow but was 
quickly followed by pillars of red, green and blue which pulsated upward from 
behind Arizona's tallest mountain. It reminded me of the LED display monitoring 
the audio output of a sound system.

What once had been a dull red glow, had now become quite bright and obvious. 
It had a cherry red or almost metallic quality to it at the peak.

After about 5-minutes, the display shifted along the horizon to the 
northeast, now appearing most intense above Mt. Elden. This display began to 
diminish 
after another 5-minutes and by 8:50 UT (1:50 am MST), the sky along the 
northern and northeastern horizons was cast in a reddish tint, stronger that 
that of 
an hour before but definitely subdued from the most intense portion of the 
aurora.

I snapped several photos throughout and will get them developed, today. If 
any turn out, I'll post them to my website and share the link.

This was not as intense as the March 30-31, 2001 aurora 
(http://members.aol.com/billferris/aurora.html ) but was definitely worth the 
price of admission 
and the lost sleep.

Regards,

Bill Ferris
Flagstaff
==============
"Cosmic Voyage: The Online Resource for Amateur Astronomers"
URL: http://www.cosmic-voyage.net


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