Monthly Archives: November 2024

Northern Lights a Comet and Big Boy

October was an amazing month in Kansas. It started October 10th with the northern lights making for a beautiful night sky. It wasn’t as visible as the photos show, adjusting the setting on my iPhone really made the lights shine. Just looking at it, the sky had an eerie reddish tint. So beautiful.

October 15 gave us a once in a lifetime view of the Comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas. Last seen in the Stone Age (how do they know that?), it will be visible again in about 80,000 years. I don’t think I will be seeing it again.

Union Pacific Big Boy 4014 also made a stop in Salina, KS. This is the third time in recent years that it has stopped here. Built 1941-1944, weighing 1,200,000 lbs it was made to haul freight over the mountains in Utah and Wyoming.