Merged Here comes another Aurora Borealis

[Skeptic Ginger]

Watch this thread, I'll post updates. A month or so ago the Sun sent us a plasma cloud of charged particles from solar flare that sent a coronal mass ejection or CME crashing into the Earth. The aurora borealis or northern lights were visible across half of Europe when the CME reached Earth. It hit during the day for north America so we missed the night light show.

In the last 24 hours the Sun erupted with 3 HUGE solar flares all sending CMEs most likely directed straight toward the Earth. It usually takes about 72 hours for the flare ejecta to reach us, give or take a day depending on the speed of the CME.

No one should worry. The Sun sends us these jewels all the time. The cycle is 11 years long between lots of flares and very few flares and we are back on the road to lots of flares.

I'll post updates as Spaceweather.com reports them.

 

[Halfcentaur]

I've been meaning to catch a glimpse all my life. I thought for sure when I was in Siberia in January of 2008 I'd get my chance, but no luck

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

What latitude are you at, Halfcentaur?

 

[Halfcentaur]

What latitude are you at, Halfcentaur?

I'm in Oklahoma, approx 33°37' N to 37° N. A few freak flare ups have been seen here over the years.

Sometime I'm planning on driving as far north as the roads will permit my toyota camry, just to do it.

 

[portlandatheist]

Thanks for the post. Too bad the sun was quiet last time I traveled to Alaska. I'll keep an eye out here at 46 degrees N but with low expectations. I've seen the lights many times in Seattle and Bellingham but never here in Portland.

 

[pakeha]

Thanks for the Headsup, Skeptic Ginger
If there's something worth watching, it's the Aurora Borealis!

 

[Halfcentaur]

A pity, I was just in Seattle 3 weeks past. I did not know they were often visible there, I've spent many a summer there in my life.

 

[tesscaline]

I dunno that I'd say they're "often" visible here. More like that they're visible when we get freak solar flares hitting us just right.

I'll be on the lookout for data about where to go watch for it this time too. If possible, we'll drive up the mountain again (earlier this time, so we're not driving up in the dark) to get a glimpse.

 

[Halfcentaur]

I dunno that I'd say they're "often" visible here. More like that they're visible when we get freak solar flares hitting us just right.

I'll be on the lookout for data about where to go watch for it this time too. If possible, we'll drive up the mountain again (earlier this time, so we're not driving up in the dark) to get a glimpse.

Rainier? I love it there. Was just in Paradise actually. A fine place to see such a thing I'd think.

 

[LarianLeQuella]

Damn Lee and the cloud cover we're having in New England. I am at 43°07′55″N so I should be able to see something should the skies ever clear up...

 

[Sawbones79]

Wow, thanks for the tip. We get some "norrsken" even this far south in Sweden, but the displays I've sseen up north have often been nothing short of amazing.

 

[tesscaline]

Rainier? I love it there. Was just in Paradise actually. A fine place to see such a thing I'd think.

No. Baker But the same holds true -- it's paradise up there.

 

[Verde]

Wow, thanks for the tip. We get some "norrsken" even this far south in Sweden, but the displays I've sseen up north have often been nothing short of amazing.

They can be stunning. During the early 80s I was working in northern Norway and auroras were fairly common. It was the tail-end of the sunspot peak, so more would be expected.
On occasion the storm would be intense enough that the curtain would appear in the southern sky.

V.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

I dunno that I'd say they're "often" visible here. More like that they're visible when we get freak solar flares hitting us just right.

I'll be on the lookout for data about where to go watch for it this time too. If possible, we'll drive up the mountain again (earlier this time, so we're not driving up in the dark) to get a glimpse.

Actually, they would be visible here more than you'd think but the real problem is, with so many cloudy nights it's rare to have activity and a clear night together. Then there is the length of time the lights are visible. Sometimes it's only for an hour or less which means you have to time it right or watch the sky all night, both of which are difficult to do.

But this is going to be one of those exceptional displays. The same sunspot just unleashed another M class flare. So that's 2 M class and 2 X class flares while the sunspot was more or less facing Earth. At least one of those flare CMEs is going to stir things up. But hopefully it will result in a lot of activity over a longer period of time which means more chance it will be dark, the skies clear, and we'll see something at least as far south as Seattle. Bellingham should definitely have some visible activity and for Portland it is possible the lights will be visible.

As for Oklahoma, there's a remote possibility but even if the activity is that strong, it's likely all you'd see that far south is a pink or green glow in the sky to the north.


As for the New England cloud cover, don't worry. This won't be your only chance.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

They can be stunning. During the early 80s I was working in northern Norway and auroras were fairly common. It was the tail-end of the sunspot peak, so more would be expected.
On occasion the storm would be intense enough that the curtain would appear in the southern sky.

V.

Once I saw them here in Bellevue (Seattle) directly overhead. I've never seen anything like it in aurora movies. The sky was covered in flashing parallelograms. That night the lights were visible as far south as Arizona.

 

[tesscaline]

Actually, they would be visible here more than you'd think but the real problem is, with so many cloudy nights it's rare to have activity and a clear night together. Then there is the length of time the lights are visible. Sometimes it's only for an hour or less which means you have to time it right or watch the sky all night, both of which are difficult to do.

Maybe it's a semantic thing about "often" I just meant that it's not as common here as it is, say, in Alaska.

 

[Halfcentaur]

I know a few people who have seen them in the last ten years here in Oklahoma, and once heard a weatherman on the news recommend we watch out for them here. But they are very rare and very sparse.

 

[godless dave]

Northern Minnesota is a good place to see them. As far north as Seattle, and very few city lights.

Best views over a meal of fish you caught earlier that day.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

I know a few people who have seen them in the last ten years here in Oklahoma, and once heard a weatherman on the news recommend we watch out for them here. But they are very rare and very sparse.

It's possible this could be one of those rare cases. Watching the CME videos, there is a lot of plasma coming this way. But I still think you are only going to get an horizon glow at best and it isn't likely you'll even get that much.

I think the event I saw that caused the flashing sky overhead was this one: Low Latitude Aurora Borealis

A Nov. 4 [2001] geomagnetic storm caused the Aurora Borealis to be pushed toward the equator, allowing individuals in the continental United States better viewing of the aurora. This was the third largest particle event in history

But the CME movie from the 11-04-2001 event shows a lot more direct hitting particles than the movies from the 4 recent CMEs that are on the way.

You can find the current movies here. Go to the left side of the page and click on either MPEG or GIF movies. MPEG will give you two resolution options.

Here's a link for the archived movies. "C3 mpegs" match the 2001 view. I can't find any that show as much direct hit activity as the 2001 event. But I've gotten familiar with judging the 3D direction of the CMEs from the 2D image and you can see the CMEs are definitely Earth directed. OTOH, CMEs can still miss the Earth even if they look Earth directed.

 

[jj]

Annoyingly, they have built a megachurch about a half mile north of us. Massive sky glow from all their brightly lit torture devices.

Grrr........