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(meteorobs) Auroa
Since aurora doesn't seem to be an off topic for meteor observers I
would like to mention. On the night of September 25/26 I was at
Cottonwood Springs in the Joshua Tree National Monument in Southern
California. In the early evening while I was acquainting my companion
with the stars I did see a surprising number of meteors, about 8,
between 7:30 and 10:00 PM PDT. One was not too long after sunset
between the moon and the horizon. My companion only saw one despite the
fact that we were always looking in the same area. It was frustrating.
I got up at 3:30 AM PDT to do some observing on my own. The sky was
excellent in the north and east away from LA light pollution. However I
was looking for signs of aurora activity from the sunspots I had
observed on Sunday and Monday. I consider myself good at detecting
faint and precursory signs of aurora, such as rays and luminous clouds,
from my youthful observations in Ohio. I saw a surprising few meteors
probably because that was not my objective. However much to my surprise
I saw unmistakably the Zodiacal Lights. They were much brighter than I
had anticipated and certainly did not require averted vision to see.
This was the first time I had ever seen them despite the number of years
I have observed. I looked for them seriously when I was stationed in
India back in 1945 and never saw them, probably because I had an
aberrated idea of what I was looking for. From that point on I forgot
about it. I am sure I will see them often now. I presume Gegenschein is
a lot more difficult. However I will certainly keep it in mind if I
have skies as good as the other night.
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