by Paul LeFevre
Hi all...having a great time in London, but there hasn't been a single star in the sky, with clouds and rain the entire time. I hope to have some free time tomorrow, and intend to go see Mr. Newton's first Newtonian telescope and some other museum-type goodies.
The trip over on the plane, though long, had a good side -- there was a fantastic auroral show that I stared out the window at for hours! The aurora spanned the entire horizon -- shimmering curtains of light flowing in wonderful patterns from the horizon all the way up to Polaris. Bright areas would suddenly appear, grow into long vertical lines, and undulate as they moved southward. Most others on the plane were asleep, but I wanted to show everybody what was outside the window...I turned to the 14-year old girl in the seat behind me, and said "Wanna see something cool?" Her initial reaction to an old fart on a dark airplane using that line was probably understandable :) Eventually I convinced her to look out the window, and she finally saw what I was pointing out, and spent a couple of hours ooh-ing and ahh-ing along with me. Wonderful show!
I'm making sure I have a north-facing window for the trip home as well!