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Northern Lights

Discussion in 'Fred's House of Pancakes' started by Marg, Nov 8, 2004.

  1. Marg

    Marg New Member

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    Last night at about 8:00 pm, after visiting my brother in his downtown home, my husband and I left his house and started heading towards the car. I happened to look up.

    Neither of us had seen northern lights before, but we had a hunch. My husband ran in to get my brother and his three kids. My brother had seen them before on trips to northern Canada, so he was able to confirm that they were indeed northern lights.

    For the next 10 or 15 minutes, we looked at the sky with craned necks, and all we could say was "oooh" "aaah!" "wow!" "look over there!"
    They were a like a moving, dancing, wispy, curtain of light, sometimes green, sometimes white, occasional hints of pink. Sometimes they would coalesce into bands of intense light, sometimes they looked like streaming rays. At times they covered as much as 75% of the sky. It was though celestial beings were taking shimmering scarves and waving them in a gentle breeze. Beautiful. Magical. I just can't do them justice with words.

    It's rare to see them so far south. After we got home, my husband checked the internet and found that a lot of people had reported sightings. There were reports from as far west as Minnesota and as far south as Tennessee. Lots of people in Illinois, Ohio, and Wisconsin posted their reports. Some people in England, Sweden and Poland reported activity, but their view was hampered somewhat by cloudcover.

    What a wonderful end to the evening.

    Did anyone here in Priuschatland see them?
     
    #1 Marg, Nov 8, 2004
  2. victor

    victor New Member

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    More auroras are possible on Nov. 8th and 9th when a pair of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are due to hit Earth's magnetic field. The CMEs were hurled in our direction by weekend explosions near sunspot 696: an M7-class solar flare on Nov. 6th (0030 UT) and an X1-flare on Nov. 7th (1605 UT).

    [​IMG]

    http://www.spaceweather.com/
     
    #2 victor, Nov 8, 2004
  3. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    I commented in another thread that the lights were even visible as far south as Southwest Missouri last night.
     
    #3 efusco, Nov 8, 2004
  4. DaveinOlyWA

    DaveinOlyWA 3rd Time was Solariffic!!

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    they were visible in WA state too. there were several shots on the late news last night
     
    #4 DaveinOlyWA, Nov 8, 2004
  5. Wolfman

    Wolfman New Member

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    You guys are lucky. I hate living so far south. :(
     
    #5 Wolfman, Nov 8, 2004
  6. heliotropehead

    heliotropehead New Member

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    Me too.

    I'm jealous!!
     
    #6 heliotropehead, Nov 8, 2004
  7. Sufferin' Prius Envy

    Sufferin' Prius Envy Platinum Member

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    This is how I keep track of Aurora potential . . .

    http://sec.noaa.gov/SWN/
    http://www.spacew.com/aurora/forum.html
    http://sec.noaa.gov/alerts/warnings_timeline.html
    http://www.cleardarksky.com/csk/

    But of course I had to have clouds!!!

    Since people are looking for aurora, why not also look for Iridium Flares. This web site - hosted by victor and the good people at the German Space Operations Center - will show you how.
    http://www.heavens-above.com/

    For your first visit just click on the “Select†Location under “Anonymous Users†. . . but if you decide to register (I very highly recommend too), I suggest you input you Lat/Long location manually. Good accuracy counts as “All our pages, including the graphics, are generated in real-time and customized for your location and time zone.â€

    If you don’t have a GPS, you can use this Mapquest page to hone in to your exact location. . . it may take some trial and error. Remember, accuracy is key.
    http://www.mapquest.com/maps/latlong.adp

    P.S. Iridium Flares are the bane of serious astronomers. They are produced when the sun reflects off the unfortunately very reflective and flat solar panels of Iridium Satellites (think satellite cell phones). The three brightest things in space as seen from Earth . . . the Sun, the Moon, and -8 or -9 Iridium Flairs!

    Enjoy
     
    #7 Sufferin' Prius Envy, Nov 8, 2004
  8. victor

    victor New Member

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    Just to clarify something. I dont host the site Heavens above. This is hosted by the customer I work for DLR. However, I do know the owner, Chris Peat, quiet well, having worked with him on and off for 15 years.

    Victor
     
    #8 victor, Nov 9, 2004
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