Fire in the Sky!

As I type this I can still see the aurora blazing away outside my window.

I got the alert around 7pm, and took off for the big "M" because I didn't have any film. But even from Meijers parking lot I could see it great. Very green.

After calling nearly everyone I know to inform them about the aurora, instead of heading out to the observatory I instead headed north to the intersection of Fruit Ridge and 6 mile road (a few miles north of Grand Rapids. I perfect northern horizon over a corn field, with no lights to the north. You could see the glow of Grand Rapids to the south, and a bit of Muskegon to the northwest.

There were clouds. Lots of them. But, they were lit from behind an eerie green color from the aurora. But we stood around for a little bit, and the clouds began to part. In fact, there were some great views of the aurora with the clouds around.

We had reds, greens, purples; rays, spikes, shimmers, coronas, jets - the whole works. It started to die down around 10.30, so we packed up and left. I had shot 5 rolls of film.

It's going to be there all night, and might erupt again. And there's a chance for the next few days as well.

This was amazing, but I will give it second place to the aurora of November 5, 2001.