I didn't see the lights
When we moved to Tasmania, one thing that I had in mind was, 'I'll see auroras!'
On my first night in Tasmania, on the long bus trip from Launceston to Wynyard, I kept staring out of the bus windows, imagining I could see auroras, then conceding that, well, they were only clouds catching the moonlight.
About six months after we moved, I went out the door one night, to see a huge green glow in the southern sky.
AURORA!
We all went out into the cold, winter night to watch. I was happy.
Except, of course, this was right as the Sun was going into one of the lowest minimum periods on record. Almost no sunspot activity for years, and hence, no auroras. In the meantime, I'm subscribed to an astronomical email list that alerts people to upcoming interesting sky phenomena, including auroras.
We finally got some a few months ago, and they were the business. The whole 'billowing curtain' thing. Much slower than the speeded-up stuff you see in nature films, of course, but still mightily impressive. We all piled into the car and drove to the outskirts of town and stood on a hill watching and taking photos (and listening to Devils howling in the nearby forest). See one of my photos here.
So imagine my chagrin when I checked my inbox the other morning to find a message from the night before: 'auroras happening in Tasmania NOW!'
Here is a photo of what I missed. Dammit.
On my first night in Tasmania, on the long bus trip from Launceston to Wynyard, I kept staring out of the bus windows, imagining I could see auroras, then conceding that, well, they were only clouds catching the moonlight.
About six months after we moved, I went out the door one night, to see a huge green glow in the southern sky.
AURORA!
We all went out into the cold, winter night to watch. I was happy.
Except, of course, this was right as the Sun was going into one of the lowest minimum periods on record. Almost no sunspot activity for years, and hence, no auroras. In the meantime, I'm subscribed to an astronomical email list that alerts people to upcoming interesting sky phenomena, including auroras.
We finally got some a few months ago, and they were the business. The whole 'billowing curtain' thing. Much slower than the speeded-up stuff you see in nature films, of course, but still mightily impressive. We all piled into the car and drove to the outskirts of town and stood on a hill watching and taking photos (and listening to Devils howling in the nearby forest). See one of my photos here.
So imagine my chagrin when I checked my inbox the other morning to find a message from the night before: 'auroras happening in Tasmania NOW!'
Here is a photo of what I missed. Dammit.