Star constellations

We live in Northern Michigan. We have been here for about 13 years and have never seen the northern lights. I have heard from several people how awe inspiring and amazing they are. Well, one night in October we were all on a friends back porch. I just don't know how to describe it. The sky looked almost like a fingerpainting. The colors were a bluish green and hints of other colors. it was absolutely breathtaking. Such brilliant colors just covering the sky. That is a sight my family and I will never forget.

 

Michigander reporting. I feel sorry for the folks in bright smoggy cities who never see stars. Some of my greatest camping memories involved youthful days of stargazing with friends. On a slightly related note, I met a few inner-city kids last year who'd never sat around a campfire. Something about not wanting to look homeless.

 

I have gone stargazing outside of the city away from the lights. I was able to go out on a ridge that has parking and stargaze. It really makes a difference when your outside of the city.

 

I've managed to catch most of the planetary alignments (and there have been quite a few in the last 30 or so years). I also managed to catch the Shoemaker event form a local observatory. I've seen quite a few meteor showers, and most of the recent sprat of eclipses we've had. Two blue moons and one blood-red one. Haven't caught the Northern lights or a supernova yet, but there's still time. And if I hand on long enough I might have Haley come around again when I'm 80-such.

 

I am getting much better as an adult in identifying constellations, but my real passion is watching meteor showers. The Perseids in August and the Geminids in December are the ones that I can view the best in Pennsylvania. The problem seems to be that bright moonlight and bad weather or clouds, as well as city lights, can make viewing meteors horrible, so it's been a while for me that I've actually seen a good meteor show. A few years ago, I went to Cherry Springs State Park, which is supposed to have one of the darkest night skies in the eastern United States, and the Perseid meteor shower was absolutely amazing to watch.

 

Does anyone use a telescope? And if you do are you really practiced with it or is it just a slight hobby? I'm trying to do better with my hobby, but I don't really care about being "professional-grade".