My Sky-Watcher Life List Gets Two Checkmarks in One Week!
I just wanted to post about this on my blog, for the record. I’ve already shared these pictures on social media, on the nights in question.
And it’s not that I actually have a sky-watcher life list where I’m checking off the things I’ve seen in the sky, it’s just interesting that in the space of one week I’ve seen two different celestial phenomena (doot – doo – doo – doo – do) for the first time in my life.
#1 was the Aurora Borealis, which I always figured I would first see on some trip to a northern latitude, if I ever got around to visiting Alaska or Iceland or somewhere like that. I’ve long wanted to witness what I imagined would be a surreal experience of waves and bands of vibrant color in the night sky, and I was excited to learn that, because of solar flares and the resulting geomagentic storms, the northern lights would be visible in lower latitudes.
People all over the U.S. were already posting pictures of them on social media, but any time there was a heads up that it was a particularly good night for viewing them where I live, it would turn out to be overcast, or I might not get the info in time. Then, last Thursday, when Aileen and I were at an invited dress rehearsal, I overheard people in the audience mentioning the northern lights during intermission. At the end of the show, out in the parking lot, I looked up but didn’t see anything.
But then on the drive home, we did see them! Aileen kindly pulled over at a spot that had a good vantage point and I got some pictures. It was a very cold night, so it kind of felt like I had achieved going to a northern latitude to see the Aurora Borealis without actually travelling anywhere.
#2 was Comet Tsuchinshan–ATLAS. I was so happy to get a look at it, because I remember the excitement I felt at the prospect of spotting Comet Neowise in 2020. We had all that free time because of the pandemic! But it didn’t come to pass, though Aileen and I did go out for looking for it that summer. Possibly it was too faint and we needed to get to a spot with absolutely no light, or possibly we needed a telescope.
When I heard about this new comet, I put the mid-October dates that were best for viewing it on my calendar. It would be visible about 40 minutes after sunset, not too far off the western horizon. On October 15, unfortunately, the western sky was filled with clouds and I knew there was no chance. But on October 16, the sky was completely clear.
At Gavin’s suggestion, I drove out a ways into farm country, and pulled off at a side road where I had a nice view of the sky. It was 40 minutes after sunset, but I didn’t see anything. Based on an article I had saved, I figured out where the comet should be roughly, based on the position of Venus. While I was away from the light pollution in our town, there was also a full moon, which lit up the sky quite nicely, complicating the viewing for me.
As time passed, the sky darkened and stars began to appear. I noticed what looked like a faint streak in the sky at about the right place. When I examined the spot with my binoculars, it turned out to be the comet! Through the binoculars, I had a really nice view. It wasn’t terribly bright, but it was distinctly a comet, with a lovely, long tail. I relished looking at it for a long while, despite the cold.
Though it was only barely visible with the naked eye, my smartphone picked it up well enough with its night vision mode.
Well, there you have it. In the space of a week, I witnessed the northern lights and a comet, both for the first in my life.
Who knows what wonders lie ahead?