Northern Lights Update

– by Debbie Allen

Last year in the November Issue of the e-news I reported on the Northern Lights in October.  I was not able to take photographs back then.  Thanks to Michael Roboz who gave me the link for Space Watch (http://spaceweather.com) I was alerted to the possiblity of intense Auroral activity around the 8th and 9th of September.  Unfortunately I did not have my camera ready and my area was directly under the Corona.  Simply spectacular!  I got my camera ready and on the night of the 12 – 13th of September the Northern Lights came again.  I am attaching pictures for you. (See eNews October 2011 in the Newsletter archive – Ed.)

In that same report I commented on the spectacle of watching Castor and Pollux in Gemini rise through the the Aurora; the Great Bear (Big Dipper) striding over the Aurora; and meteors.  This year there is new excitement in Gemini as Mars has joined Castor and Pollux, rising about 3 am.  On the night I captured these pictures the Moon was full, Jupiter was just above the Eastern Horizon when I began watching at about 11 p.m.  They chased me like great dragons alll the way home from work!  I watched until 3 am to see Mars rise, and was also graced with one bright, long, slow meteor.