The Conditions
Solar wind speeds of 550 km/s and Bz occasionally as low as -5 nT got me interested in seeing auroras. Additionally, noctilucent clouds had been spotted the night before in North Dakota. June is peak noctilucent cloud season in Minnesota. Given the not-so-spectacular solar wind conditions, I was probably more interested in the noctilucent clouds than I was in the auroras.
There were some high and mid level clouds in the way, but I wanted to try anyway. The moon was new.
A Trifecta
After seeing the height of the noctilucent cloud display, I decided to go to the north side of town, where the northern horizon is darker, to see auroras for the first time in a couple months. My attempt was fruitful, although I did not expect much. The boat landing at McKinney Lake was active. There was a family of foxes there, and I scared part of them away when I drove in. I didn't know it right away, but at least one fox was still hiding in the cattails right next to me. After a few minutes, I heard some rustling, and a fox came out and bolted for the woods on my other side. Then, more rustling. This time, a skunk appeared and lunged toward me. I backed off, and it went on its own way.
Back to the sky. I saw a glow on the horizon, and I thought it might have been glare from oncoming headlights coming southbound on Highway 38 (they often illuminate the northern horizon at this location because 38 is directly north of here). However, when I looked at the stars to see what direction these lights were coming from, it was more from the northeast. These were auroras. Soon, the recognizable columns came into view. The last of the noctilucent clouds were still on the northwestern horizon.
I was taking 15 second exposures, and I might have been about halfway through an exposure when a long, really slow meteor appeared high in the northwestern sky. It kept on going, even past my 15-second exposure. I thought, "Darn, I didn't capture the whole thing."
Then, it occurred to me that I could hit the shutter again, so I did. This meteor was still going! I caught the end of it with my second exposure. There is a gap in-between where my shutter was not open. For the next several exposures, my camera captured a trail of afterglow illumination.
Wrap-up
It was a very interesting night, seeing the longest meteor of my life, plus the best noctilucent cloud display of my life. It wasn't the best aurora display, but that was fine, given everything else that was going on.