Jenn and I are in Alaska through the end of this week. While a trip up toward Fairbanks means an 80% chance of seeing the aurorae, we opted for the southern leg of our trip to the Kenai Peninsula for the past four days -- two in Seward and two in beautiful Homer. The first night in Homer (Saturday) began partly cloudy, and miraculously cleared by 11 p.m. We were treated to an all-sky display with the southern edge of the lights about 10 degrees above the southern horizon. What was the most striking was how rapidly the pulsations moved from the horizon to the magnetic zenith (just south of the zenith). At the peak of the all-night display, these took only a couple tenths of a second. Also very striking was the convergence of the rays of the curtain. It's an illusion much like crepuscular rays. The most prominent color was the usual lime green, but the fringes were magenta, which Jenn's eyes saw much better than mine. Jeff Medkeff, at whose house we are again staying, said this was among the best half dozen displays he has seen in his 18 months near Anchorage. I'll post some pictures when we return. Just can't express how happy both of us are to have seen this display. Tom > > From: Brian Skiff <Brian.Skiff@xxxxxxxxxx> > Date: 2005/09/11 Sun AM 03:08:26 EDT > To: az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx > Subject: [AZ-Observing] Aurorae underway > > A note about all-sky aurorae from a friend in Saskachewan included > mention that the aurorae is now faintly visible in our Anderson Mesa > webcam: > > http://www.lowell.edu/users/buie/wxpix > > ...so it is just becoming visible here. The space.com site mentioned > earlier.... > > http://www.spacew.com/www/aurora.php > > ...shows us up to ~200 gigawatts power and the auroral coverage has > gone red. > > \Brian > -- > See message header for info on list archives or unsubscribing, and please > send personal replies to the author, not the list. > > -- See message header for info on list archives or unsubscribing, and please send personal replies to the author, not the list.