Perseid Surprise
I arrived to the one area in Utah that forecasted possibly clear skies this stormy day, and what luck! Stepping out of the car, I was initially disappointed: what's with the light pollution to the north? Then, I simply cannot write how stunned I was to look again a little closer and see a pillar appear.
There's a Perseid meteor! Also featuring: the constellation Perseus, and the things we call the Perseus double cluster (below and to the right of the meteor), the Andromeda Galaxy (fuzz on the edge of the red), the Pleiades (on the right close to the horizon), and the bright star is the one we call Capella.
The pillars danced for maybe ten minutes after I arrived. Then they faded away, and the sky glowed this strong red visible to the eye.
This photo looking south shows how red the ground glowed, too! The green in the sky is, I suppose, airglow from the increased geomagnetic activity.
And so, somehow in one trip I saw: a stunning double rainbow, many impressive lightning strikes, a meteor shower, and aurora! unbelievable! Check out this page for photos earlier in the day.