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[Al Degutis]

I was fortunate to see my second auroral display here in Northern Illinois in my life and both were in the last 7 months. I also captured some images with the Canon 300D:

skyinsight.net/r/?a=aurora20050515

Pictures of the northern lights from Nov 2004:
skyinsight.net/r/?a=aurora

Today's was much nicer because it was about 20 degrees warmer.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Al,

Those images are so cool!... ;D

They look like they were coming right at the camera, and quite colorful. I know it's nothing like the real thing, but those are vivid.

The benefits of moving to the boonies from the suburbs of Chicago pays off big!

I recommend all to pay a visit to your site and view them.

Thanks for sharing.

[Al Degutis]

FYI - Some of the pictures are featured on the WGN9 Weather Center Blog online:

wgntv.trb.com/news/weather/weblog/wgnweather/

What I need to do is post the rest of the pictures where I tried to "write" Judy (my wife's name) using my red maglite. They were pretty awefully and then I realized that I should stand with my back to the camera, hold the maglite backwards (so the light shines to the camera) and write her name in front of me normally. Before that I was facing the camera and trying to figure out how to write her name backwards in the air.

[Al Degutis]

Okay, here's the official observation report...

I had seen an alert that there was the potential for a mid-latitude auroral display. Having seen my first northern lights last November (2004) I was eager to catch it again. The sky was overcast until 03:00 UT here at 42.2 lat, 88.5 long. I kept going outside and checking for auroral activity but didn't see anything until after 05:00. The first sighting of it was in the northern where the sky was brightly aglow, hiding all the stars. I had my Canon 300D outside on a tripod for the last few hours in preparation and started snapping photos while observing it visually. The lights were mostly a grey color with a faint green hue. They started to extend into rays that eventually
started rippling to the zenith. These waves continued for an hour or so. I realized the camera lense had fogged up so I decided to deal with that, offload some pictures, recharge my battery, and warm up a bit. Although it wasn't as cold as last November (probably 20-25 deg F
warmer) the cold was getting to me.

I went back outside around 07:00 UT and saw a "starbust" pattern overhead. I sent up the camera to try and capture it since I missed a similar display on November due to a dead camera battery. It appeared
to start to fade away and then came back, but not as bright and strong as earlier. Once my eyes started adjusting to the dark again, I was able to see some red amidst the green but only when the green was very
strong/bright. The starburst weakened in the middle and the rays heading to the eastern and western horizons where prominent. Around 08:30 the display started to weaken until twilight started washing it away.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

An excellent account of your second viewing of the Auroras.

First on Fox 32 and now WGN 9...too cool!... ;D

[Al Degutis]

Chicago said:

First on Fox 32 and now WGN 9...too cool!... ;D

And next on Daily Planet science newsmagazine show on Discovery Channel Canada tonight.

A version of the show does run on the Science Channel in the US (it's called "Discoveries This Week") but I don't know if they'll choose to air this story.

In Canada, Daily Planet airs on the Discovery Channel at 7 and 11 p.m. Eastern, then also overnight and into tomorrow morning - you can see the full schedule here:
www.exn.ca/ontv/series.asp?series=46701602&TZ=0

They will be using the photo(s) for the story or the backdrop for the credits. Either way, I'm pleased.

Hey, Canadian Chicago Astronomer Members: If anyone can record it for me, I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks

[Al Degutis]

Okay, here's what the producer has told me:

Just so you know - this piece will run right at the end of the show. It'll feature your photos as well as those taken by a few other photographers. We'll do a quick story explaining why the auroras were so good this past weekend, and then we'll also show more of the images over our end credits.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

They do have a video archive, so perhaps we can view it after it airs.

www.exn.ca/dailyplanet/

[Al Degutis]

Chicago said:

They do have a video archive, so perhaps we can view it after it airs.

www.exn.ca/dailyplanet/

She said that since it's a short story it won't be on the web archives. My wife has business contacts in Canada so she's checking with them.

Also, at 12:30pm today I got an message from FoxNews that they were going to use my photos on the noon newscast. Interesting timing. Luckily, I anticipated the possibility and set the Tivo last night to record today's noon newscast. I'll check it when I get home.

[Al Degutis]

FoxNews showed the pictures (and my website address) on the noon and 9pm newcasts. One of my wife's co-workers said he'd try and tape Daily Planet in Canada for me. Hopefully he was able to.

I'll post the video the first chance I get. The contractors are here digging the holes for the deck extension and telescope pier base. Hurray, progress!

Al

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Al's aurora image is on Spaceweather.com...again!

www.spaceweather.com/aurora/gallery_01may05_page2.htm

Excellent!...

[Al Degutis]

I've uploaded an additional 26 aurora photos including the bad "skywriting" attempts. The new photos start on page 3:

skyinsight.net/r/?a=aurora20050515

Clear skies.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Remembering my last time in your spacious "backyard", I can imagine the sky ablaze with the auroras, and the purple ones in your images are quite cool.

Heh...nice skywriting...always wanted to do that!...

[timothy]

Al
Nice pictures! and congratulations on having them chosen for the news and spaceweather. Good job

[Rocketman]

Excellent pictures Al!

[Al Degutis]

Thanks Tim and Rocketman.

For those up in Northern Wisconsin, Northern Minnesota and Nothern states along that line, there's a possibility of auroral activity tonight. I won't catch it since I'm too far south and overcast with rain.

[Paulie pchris00]

So many of my memories of 2005 are centered (with good reason) on what the Sox did on a given day, but not this one. I think Baltimore was in town this particular, I remember seeing part of the Friday game at the hospice just before my grandma was administered last rites. She died early Saturday morning, and would have joined my grandpa with the angels, if you believe such things.

My girlfriend at the time had a rural newspaper route, and I always helped her on Sunday mornings. It was early in the night, probably around 1:30 when I noticed something strange in the northern sky. It was over where the steel mills of Portage & Gary would have been, and i wondered if some sort of pollution was interacting or reflecting off clouds. It was like green waves, and I pointed it out to Traci, and we kept watching as she drove along. When I started seeing other colors, I finally realized what we were seeing, and I couldn't believe it.

At one point where we had nothing but open sky we stopped and got out of the car to watch for awhile. My grandparents were originally from northern Michigan, and I told Traci that as a kid my grandpa used to tell me about the northern lights from "up north," as he used to call it.

The light show was still going strong as we finished the deliveries and headed home, but for me it was such a special night. I had never seen the northern lights, and to see them the first night that my grandparents would have been in heaven together was just amazing. I'm so glad I've always had sense enough to look up every now and then.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Paulie,

I have never observed aurorae.

Dang.

[Paulie pchris00]

If it would have happened on anything but a Saturday night/Sunday morning, I would have never seen them either. Just a bit of luck and sense enough to pay attention.