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(meteorobs) Meteor observing and Aurora Australis - April 13th 2001.

Hello to all.  Following is a report from last night about some meteor observing and a surprise Aurora Australis display.
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Observing Session Information:  Last night the evening of Friday the 13th of April 2001, the meteor section met at its well used site, the Lookout Tower, on the South Gippsland Highway, near Kooweerup, about 70 kms South East of Melbourne, for a meteor observing session.
 
Observers Present:  Adam Marsh, Roger Vodicka, Lance Kelly, Geoff Carstairs, Aiden and Richard Pollard.
 
    The observing started at 19.50 AEST with Lance Kelly and Myself doing an hour of meteor observing.  The hour was good with frequent evening meteors witnessed.  At about 20.40 there was some brightening of the southern horizon, but it was fairly minor.  This brightening stretched across about 50 degrees, centred on due south.  The hour ended at 20.50 AEST, however the sky was still bright, perhaps a little brighter.  
 
    We continued by starting another, following the first, starting at 20.50 AEST.  Around 5 minutes in, at 20.55 Lance commented that the south western horizon looked a orange/reddish colour.  We both got up for a better look, as we had been lying in deck chairs at that stage.  To our delight, the horizon was red from south west right around to the south south east, there was a further patch in the south east, near to the tail of scorpius.  There were some faint rays in the south west patch, but the most striking feature was the deep crimson red colour of the whole display at this stage.  The display was reaching a height of about 15 to 20 degrees in altitude.
 
    We continued watching, while waiting for Roger, Geoff and Aiden to arrive.  By about 21.10 the display had died off some, but the horizon was still bright.  The others arrived at about 21.15, just in time to see the display increase in intensity once again.  Same as before, red patches appeared.  This continued until about 21.25 when a nice red ray cane up almost due south, silhouetting the Lookout Tower that lies between our observing spot and the south.  A minute later a nice yellow/green beam came up from the south to a height of about 25 degrees, only to disappear in about 30 seconds.  Then another nice, thin ray from the south south east up to about 25 degrees also, it looked pencil thin and disappeared in only 20 seconds.
 
    By 21.35 this part of the display died off, to leave once again a light southern horizon, and the moon about to rise.  No further aurora was seen after this, wether due to the moon and that we couldn't see the subtle colours and rays, or because it simply faded out.
 
    Richard Pollard turned up near the end of the display, we were hoping for some more activity, but none was forthcoming.
 
    Overall, a good night.  Some meteor observing, an aurora, unfortunately, not a single camera amongst us, so there will be no photos of it.
 
 

  Adam Marsh

  armarsh@jeack.com.au

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  Director  - ASV Meteor Section (ASVMS).

  Coordinator - Eastern Australian Meteor Network (EAMN).

  Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

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