Congrats on seeing your first aurora... I grew up in a town that is 52*N
and this was quite common for me but I love it all the same. That's probably
the only thing that sux about living down here now.
Robert. . .
----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul LeFevre" <lefevre@No-Spam>
To: <sf-bay-tac@No-Spam>
Sent: Thursday, July 20, 1999 11:22 AM
Subject: A Southern (Calif.) boy sees an Aurora...
>
> After travelling to Seattle, Washington last week and missing a chance to
> see my first Aurora Borealis due to clouds, I was hoping for better skies
> when I went to Vancouver, B.C. this week.
>
> I arrived on Tuesday afternoon, to clear skies and warm (for Vancouver!)
> temperatures. Conditions looked good for some night-time viewing, I just
> had to find a way to get out of the city lights.
>
> During my business meetings that afternoon, I mentioned to the folks there
> that there had been some recent strong solar activity, and that there was
a
> good possibility of seeing the Northern Lights that night if we could get
> out of the city. Several of them got excited about the prospects (being
all
> from Canada, they had ALL seen Aurorae before, and were somewhat
nonchalant
> about it), and decided that our already-scheduled dinner out would be
moved
> to a spot about 1-1/2 hours outside of Vancouver, on the other side of the
> mountains that ring the city.
>
> We drove out to dinner at about 7:30 PM, and arrived about 9:00 PM -- and
> the sun was still up! Days are very long at these Northern latitudes.
The
> group sat around having drinks and discussing business, and then got on to
> dinner. At about 11:30 PM, I excused myself to take a look outside (it
> finally got dark at about 11:00 PM). Stepping out of the restaurant, it
> took a few moments for my eyes to adjust to the dark, and I walked around
> the side of the building away from the front lights. Scanning the
Northern
> skies, I began to discern a slight green glow, which I at first took to be
> light pollution. Realizing that Vancouver was to our South, I
concentrated
> more on the sky -- and as my eyes began to adapt to the darkness, I
realized
> that my "light pollution" was showing vertical streaks of alternating
> brighter and darker areas, and was moving slowly towards the North-West.
> Eureka! My first Aurora!
>
> After standing there transfixed for about 15 minutes, watching the slowly
> changing patterns in the sky, the rest of my group joined me outside (they
> were wondering what had happened to me!). A few minutes later a waiter
> joined us (the bill had not yet been paid!), then several other patrons
who
> were leaving the restaurant. With various people coming and going, I
stood
> outside for almost an hour watching the celestial light show. Most of the
> time the streaks varied from pale to intense green, with a few whitish
> streaks visible, and very occasionally an area would change from green to
> yellow to red, then fade back to green. The lights glowed enough to cast
> very soft shadows once you were dark adapted, and as I would look from the
> North to the Zenith and towards the South, I could make out faint traces
> that would occasionally extend well beyond the Zenith then fade out before
> reaching the Southern horizon.
>
> It's easy to understand the allure of this phenomena...the softly changing
> glow was soothing and exciting at the same time, and added a magical
quality
> to an already beautiful place. I could have stood there all night taking
it
> in, but the hour was getting late and the moon was peeking its
> just-past-full head over the South-Eastern mountains and washing out the
> sky, so we had to abandon our reverie and head for the hotel.
>
> Vancouver now holds a great memory for me, and I'll be sure to schedule
> another trip up there as soon as I can!
>
> Paul
>
>