Amazing...........

[berettabone]

[berettabone]

[berettabone]

[berettabone]

[berettabone]

[wyntrout]

Beautiful! I saw a little bit of the Northern Lights from Maine... once upon a time. Was stationed and lived up there north of Caribou from late 1986 to late 1991. I retired from the USAF in '88 and wifey had joined me in the Spring of '87, then she got a one-year remote tour to Osan, S. Korea, early '91 and I stayed until December before heading to San Antonio to get us a house for her next assignment there at Brooks AFB. She retired September '96 and early 97 we moved over here to Jacksonville, FL, where we don't see much snow, but did see a few shuttle launches from my front yard and more recently the more frequent launches from Canaveral.
I used to try to catch the meteor showers, but the mosquitoes were just too much. Those suckers NEVER go away.
I do like to look at the stars and the Milky Way, but the best views are out West. We used to go to the Durango area by way of Santa Fe and that windy mountain road and spend the night in our van north of Chama, NM, where there were NO lights on the horizon and we could see everything in the sky visible to the naked eye... awesome! That could really make you realize how small and insignificant our whole planet is, let alone our own personal existence.
I used to help take care of the security in the little city boat ramp/park behind our house. There were lights out there with a light sensor to turn them on. I would take a small light and set it up pointed it at the sensor and had a beach/chaise/chair that I could stretch out in and look up to watch the meteor showers. Sometimes I would put Off on, but rarely. That stuff stinks and sucks.

[berettabone]

We've got the same problem with skeets here. I've heard that they get to be the size of a small plane by you. I couldn't see many meteors this year because of cloud cover. There's a place a couple hour drive from me called Fall Creek. They have an observatory with a very large rotating telescope and a bit smaller one next door. It's strange being in the rotating room. No matter how many people are in the room or who's talking, it always sounds like they're right next to you. People from all over set up their scopes for night viewing. It's not unusual to have 20-30 scopes of all types set up at one time. You can just walk around and look through other's scopes. The place is designated one of 4 " dark spots " in the state. You would think that dark is dark, but when you go to a designated dark place, it is DARK. We always tried to make a point of visiting at least once a year, usually in Oct. A friend of mine has a 10" Meade, the same type used to discover the Hale Bopp. I've seen some amazing views through that scope, especially Saturn, Jupiter, the moon, and many Nebulas. I've had people ask me what the difference is between a $300 scope and a $3000 scope. I tell them that the cheap one gets you a full shot of the moon and if you're lucky, a planet if conditions/time are perfect. The expensive one gets you to the bottom of a crater on the moon..................

[Bawanna]

I didn't see it myself but several friends and family members told us this morning that they saw it. We usually have too much cloud cover but it was hot and clear yesterday. They are kind of hoping it happens again tonight. Wife wants to try and stay up long enough to see it. Guess we'll try.

[wyntrout]

I've never looked through a large telescope, but have the seen the pictures Facebook friends have posted... amazing, and not the $3k 'scopes, either, I don't think.
Hmmm... dark places and lying back to gaze at the heavenly bodies. I visited the planetarium at the museum in Munich while there. I got a seat reclined back and the lights went out, and the curator/narrator started talking. When I awoke, everyone was getting up to leave... quite the show, I guess. They woke me up getting out of their seats. I don't have a clue what I missed!

[Armybrat]

Had a funny feeling in my new pacemaker when the geomagnetic wave hit.