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(meteorobs) Fantastic, Breathtaking Northern Lights From MI

November 6, 2001
          
Greetings Meteor Enthusiasts!
            
          
Mr. Lew Gramer kindly readmitted me to the meteorobs
list last night.  I must say, what incredible timing
it was!   
          
I have been meteor hunting every night since November
2 so far with last night (November 5/6) being no
exception.  Nevertheless, it wasn't much a night for
meteors.  Only two were noticed during about an hour
of observation (starting at 8:03 P.M. EST), despite a
nice +5.5 LM or so with the Milky Way clearly visible.
 (I hope to send all of you reports soon.)  
          
At the end of my session, I called it a night and
trekked back inside the house, located on Pickerel
Lake in Newaygo County, MI.  At around 10:03 P.M. EST,
I decided, upon hearing of a current magnetic storm
occurring from my father, to stroll back outside for a
peak.  To my interest, there appeared a reddish glow
towards roughly my southeast.  I quickly went back and
alerted the rest of the family.  Once most of us were
outside, the sky erupted within seconds!  To all of
our shocked amazement the reddish glow grew stronger
and curtains enveloped the sky from the southeast
stretching to part of the zenith and the south, and
perhaps elsewhere.  Light dull red, white with perhaps
a touch of blue and maybe a few isolated moments of
green composed the unearthly spectacle of lights.  LM
was only 3.0 or 4.0 if I remember correctly. 
          
A mysterious looking radiant of some sorts that
twitched like a heart beat was also present!  It was
so spectacular that I became hysterical.  This area of
the luminous phenomenon, where the ghostly lights
seemed to at least partly radiate from was clearly
located underneath Andromeda and to the left of the
great square of Pegasus.  My father and my brother
Matthew clearly observed it and my sister Bernadette
later described it as what would happen when you pour
chocolate syrup into melted ice cream and swirl it
around with your finger.   
         
We witnessed the wisping marvel for about ten minutes
before the cold and time forced us back inside.  I
however, lingered around for a few moments longer and
to my surprise, noticed the northern lights slowly
subsiding.  In fact, I even snuck back outside the
door at roughly 10:45 P.M. EST for about five minutes
and saw that there were still a few curtains visible,
and the radiant phenomenon was still partly visible
and may have or not moved slightly.  The red glow was
gone as far as I could tell.  
          
Now, a couple of questions.  Can the northern lights
have radiants like meteor showers and was this one
witnessed unusual in any way, including the intensity
and reddish color? 
          
I must confess, this was perhaps the second time I
have ever witnessed an aurora borealis with certainty.
 However, this one was by a humongous stretch the most
breathtaking sight that I have ever seen of this
nature.  Even now I'm simply stupefied, or as my Aunt
Valerie who travels across the world would say:  "I'm
impressed!"
          
My e-mail is unclefireballmtf.com.
          
Whispering lights!
          
Mark Fox
Newaygo, MI

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