Big Error Provided Some Good Shows

What's a camping trip with the tent fabric but no tent poles? A night out under the stars. The distance to the "Little Paint" campground in the Yellow River Forest area of Northeast Iowa from Cedar Rapids is about 85 miles. That is why when I discovered upon arriving with our family that I had forgotten the bag of tent poles we had the choice of turning around and going home or sleeping out under the stars. We finally decided the latter, even though it was in October. It turned out to be a good choice. The temperature never got below the 50s (a day later a cold front arrived) and we were treated to a nice Northern Lights display (top image). The image was taken around 10:00 PM, Friday, October 10, 1997 using a picnic table as a base. I overheard neighboring campers remarking they "hadn't seen Northern Lights like that in a long time," then saw what they were talking about. The reds in the Aurora display correspond to molecules of nitrogen while the greens are oxygen. Also seen during the night because of no tent ceiling obstruction were two simultaneous meteors streaking outward from the same source in the form of a "V."