Solar and Aurora Activity Chat

[Northernlights]

Just been out to check the coos but looking over The Moray Firth to the north we have quite a bit of cloud cover and even where I can see a star they are hazy so must be high cloud as well. No sign of any Aurora just now

[shuggee]

Clear here - but after today the thought of getting out there again is too much. Bugger.

[Gorky]

I've seen some photos on facebook from Northumberland of the Northern Lights so Scotland should have seen them at that time. They were taken about 2 and a half hours ago afaik.

[howham]

It was visible here about 8:30pm. Pronounced arc and whitish/green.

[Gorky]

Seen some photos from Scarborough North Bay of the Aurora... Can't believe my sister has borrowed the car tonight of all nights so I'm stuck at home surrounded by light pollution :/

[AlexM94]

was a beautiful view of it here in caithness, http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=355934617769080&set=a.115234715172406.14378.100000576340844&type=1&theater thats one of the pictures our local weather woman took near Thurso at around 10pm! only seen a slight green in the sky here in Wick

[Crepuscular Ray]

At about 4.00 a.m. a long-duration M 8 (or perhaps M 9) flare emerged from the area of sunspot group 1402. It's no longer directly Earth-facing, but there's every chance the ensuing CME will catch us a glancing blow. So far, estimates are that any impact might be felt around the 24th-25th.

Edited January 23, 2012 by crepuscular ray

[Paul Sherman]

One of my Storm Chasing Pals has got some beauties from the North Norfolk Coast from about 01.21am last night (Peaked then)

Will see if he minds posting some pictures on here

[yamkin]

One of my Storm Chasing Pals has got some beauties from the North Norfolk Coast from about 01.21am last night (Peaked then)

Will see if he minds posting some pictures on here

I hope they do post them on here. By the way, there has been another CME burst which is M9 class with a possibility rising to X class. ETA is 25th January 2012. Early indications shows the Northern part of Earth will sustain a direct hit, but we know how this could change.

[Gorky]

Looking forward to the the predictions on the latest flare. Still gutted I couldn't get out last night. Perfectly clear sky and very visible from the coast. Had the camera charged and ready to go and no transport. In hidsight, the hours walk would probably have been worth it to get to somewhere I could watch. Weather looks no where near as favourable mid week for the next one even if it hits,

[Liam J]

Stunning images captured of the aurora borealis over North Yorkshire last night featured in the North News & Pictures. Beautiful shots taken over The Tan Hill Inn, I was there last week on my way to The Dales.

Hoping for a chance to see this for myself tonight, I just wish I'd realised that last night was going to be spectacular.

http://www.northnews.co.uk/article/307

Aurora Watch UK states that no significant activity is predicted, but looking at last nights show this sounds like it's been underestimated?

http://aurorawatch.lancs.ac.uk/

Anyone think that we could see a repeat tonight?

Edited January 23, 2012 by Liam J

[yamkin]

Looking forward to the the predictions on the latest flare. Still gutted I couldn't get out last night. Perfectly clear sky and very visible from the coast. Had the camera charged and ready to go and no transport. In hidsight, the hours walk would probably have been worth it to get to somewhere I could watch. Weather looks no where near as favourable mid week for the next one even if it hits,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXjfwjj0ipc

[BornFromTheVoid]

From Donegal last night, taken from this thread http://www.boards.ie...6383887&page=10

[Coast]

Photographer Paul Kingston captured the breath-taking sight on Sunday evening. He said: 'To the naked eye it was so subtle, that at first I didn’t realise exactly what I was seeing - but a long exposure in the camera made it suddenly jump out at me, and then, as my eyes became more and more attuned I could see it flickering across the sky more and more clearly - a fantastic sight and one I have never seen, or expected to see in this part of the country.'

Peter Richardson, 49, a bar man at the Tan Hill pub said: 'It was very surreal. We are used to seeing spectacular sunsets and sunrises in this part of the country, so I didn't know what to expect when I heard we could see the Northern Lights. 'There was a gentle array of colours, mainly oranges and greens. 'It was nice to see, very pretty. Two girls that work at the pub came out too and they were really impressed, they were absolutely blown away. 'Part of me was thinking it’s very spiritual and existential, but part of me was thinking it’s freezing! 'You could see the colours were shifting in the skies, it was great as a piece of living theatre. 'The pictures look absolutely stunning, it was a lot more visible on the photos than to the naked eye.'

Walkers on the moors of the Pennines in County Durham also paused to take in the flickering light show that filled the sky above them. The aurora borealis is normally only visible far further North in the Arctic Circle, but increased solar activity has caused the lights to show further south than normal. On Thursday last week, astronomers noticed a coronal mass ejection, a burst of electrically charged particles thrown out by the sun, which have caused the Northern Lights to appear more vividly and be viewed over a wider area than normal.

http://www.dailymail...l#ixzz1kIdDaAm7

[Crepuscular Ray]

Now that's what I call a solar radiation storm.

(from Soho - n.b. The US Soho site is down for maintenance for the next few hours but the European Space Agency mirror site is still operating)

[GeorgeWX]

Wasn't it a brilliant display last night, it was about 2am before I called it a night and I've been paying dearly for it today!

Thanks everyone for adding the the pics and reports, it's great to see more people catch these displays.

As much as I'd like to rabble on about last night's display, there is a much more interesting occurrence underway.

As mentioned above there was an M-8.7 flare around 4am this morning coming from 1402, In terms of cme density it probably matches the strong cme of 19/01 that gave us last nights display. Where this more recent cme differs though, is the projected take off speed of 1500km/h+, compared to 900 km/h from the cme that just passed.

Like the cme of 19/01, the eruption related to the M-8 flare is heading north of the ecliptic plane (due to the position of the active region), but will still impact us as soon as tomorrow evening, I expect the resulting geomagnetic storm to be more intense than the one that occurred yesterday. A high probability of storming at kp6/7 levels with potential for severe storming kp8+ due to the expected high wind speed on impact.

Also underway is a S3 proton storm due to the powerful blast, the strongest proton storm to hit earth since 2005.

Lasco c3 of the departing cme cloud (up to 05.30)

And here's a still image from the same camera getting bombarded with protons soon after the movie above stops.

M-8 LDE recorded on x-ray flux.

Edited January 23, 2012 by GeorgeWX

[kar999]

By the way, there has been another CME burst which is M9 class with a possibility rising to X class. ETA is 25th January 2012. Early indications shows the Northern part of Earth will sustain a direct hit, but we know how this could change.

I can hear the The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse saddling up in the Daily Mail newsroom!!

Some crackin pix from last night but no real chance of a repeat tonight with reduced activity. And also it got the kiss of death with the possibility of repeat sightings tonight being mentioned on the PM news on Radio 4. http://cdn.nwstatic.co.uk/forum/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/unsure.png

[GeorgeWX]

Just to add that there's no geomagnetic storming anticipated over the UK tonight as solar activity went very quiet after the 19/01 cme. Tomorrow evening should herald some aurora viewing opportunities provided the incoming cme arrives early enough for UK viewing.

Post updated to add Lasco movies of the eruption, both up to 11am. (click to play)

Lasco c2

Lasco c3

Edited January 23, 2012 by GeorgeWX

[frogesque]

I'd given up just before things started to happen - well miffed that I missed this. Hopefully the latest M9 blast will be even better.

[stevestorms]

Hi Paul suggested I post my Pictures from last night I shot from North Norfolk on the beach of Salthouse which is west along the coast from Sherringham. Aurora was shot at just after 0100hrs Using a Canon EOS 5D MK11 WITH A CANON 50MM F1.8 LENS SHOT AT 1600ISO @ F1.8 FOR 10SECS

Now it has only taken me 20 odd years to get it in the can!!! now I have I want bigger and brighter :-) bit like storm chasing really ........... once yer been bitten :-)

[Paul Sherman]

N1 Steve

Thats gotta be the furthest South of all the pictures from last night Surely ??

[Liam J]

Hi Paul suggested I post my Pictures from last night I shot from North Norfolk on the beach of Salthouse which is west along the coast from Sherringham. Aurora was shot at just after 0100hrs Using a Canon EOS 5D MK11 WITH A CANON 50MM F1.8 LENS SHOT AT 1600ISO @ F1.8 FOR 10SECS

Now it has only taken me 20 odd years to get it in the can!!! now I have I want bigger and brighter :-) bit like storm chasing really ........... once yer been bitten :-)

Excellent photos mate, quite unusual for the Aurora to be seen so far south? Dam it and here was me tucked up in bed when I could have been witnessing one of the best displays that Mother Nature has to offer!

Edited January 23, 2012 by Liam J

[Claudia]

Thanks George wx for the explanation.

Steavestorms I am SSSsssssooooo jealous !!!!!!! I didnt receive any email notification that there would be an aura and had given up actively looking some time ago Also in Norfolk Mum saw your photograph on the news and told me only way I found out You can see it on iplayer just fast forward to near the end

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01b4fgs/Look_East_East_23_01_2012/

[Coast]

Also underway is a S3 proton storm due to the powerful blast, the strongest proton storm to hit earth since 2005.

How The Biggest Solar Storm Since 2005 Is Going to Affect You

There's a solar Coronal Mass Ejection travelling towards us at 1,400 miles per second, the largest solar storm since 2005. It will hit Earth around 9am Eastern Time, causing fluctuations on the power grid and disruptions to the Global Positioning System.

There's something else, a strong proton storm—ranking S3 on a 5-level scale—which is in full rage now and gradually increasing. While CMEs are normal—about 2,000 every 11-year solar cycle—proton storms are very rare. Only a couple of dozen happen per solar cycle. And this one can be dangerous. The storm has already affected aircraft traffic and may affect satellites' computers. On a telephone interview, NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center physicist Doug Biesecker told me that, fortunately, there are measures to avoid most dangers.

"Many airliners have been avoiding the North Pole routes because they are more exposed to the proton storm, which disrupts High Frequency radio communications," he said on a telephone interview. HF datalinks are crucial to modern airflight, as they keep aircraft connected to Air Traffic Control. Due to the structure of the magnetic field that surrounds Earth, the polar cusps have very little protection against outbursts of solar radiation, so any airplane crossing that area could be exposed to this mayhem.

We're experiencing technical difficulties

He also said that satellites may be affected, causing reboots on onboard computers as well as noise in imaging systems and interferences in telemetry caused by something called single event upsets. These events may change the values of the telemetry data. Since we are aware of these interferences in advance, engineers on ground bases can take them into account and make corrections before firing any commands that may jeopardize the life of the spacecraft. The only real unpredictable danger is a total hardware failure, with a proton hitting an electronic component and killing it. But according to Biesecker, this "is a very remote possibility."

Global positioning systems are also affected—and will be even more affected tomorrow. Regular humans will not notice this. You will be able to keep using your GPS normally, but people using high precision GPS equipments—like oil drilling, military, engineering and mining operations—will definitely notice the problems. According to Karen Fox at NASA Goddard Space Center, "NASA alerted operators of their satellites that the CME was coming, so those operators can take whatever shielding precautions they can."

The biological danger

NOAA's scale says that an S3 proton storm may pose danger to passengers in high-flying aircraft at high latitudes, which is why some airplanes below the 65th parallel north are now actually flying at lower altitudes to avoid any kind of radiation nastiness. They also recommend for astronauts to stay home and avoid space walks but—according to Biesecker—this type of storm is "far below the level needed for the ISS to take any extraordinary protection measures." If it's ok for them, you can be sure it's perfectly fine for you and me down here on good old planet Earth.

What will happen when the CME hits tomorrow morning?

When the Coronal Mass Ejection arrives to Earth at 1,400 miles per second, we will have a geomagnetic storm and a radio blackout. This, apart from the possibility of awesome auroras at latitudes as low as New York, means several things. First, the radio blackout will be level R2, which is moderate. According to the NOAA scale, it will cause "limited blackout of HF radio communication on the sunlit side and loss of radio contact for tens of minutes," as well as "degradation of low-frequency navigation signals for tens of minutes." Nothing that you should worry about. The geomagnetic storm will only be "strong G2 with possibilities of G3," according to Bisecker. In the best case scenario, only power lines will be affected. You will not notice it because any power fluctuations will be handled by companies at the grid level. If the storm is long enough, however, it may damage power grid transformers.

Other than all this, and unless something extraordinary happens, you shouldn't worry about the world ending tomorrow. It won't. But keep your eyes open for auroras happening near you. Those living up north in particular will have a great show today and tomorrow.

http://gizmodo.com/5...-to-affect-you/

[Polar Maritime]

Hi George WX.

Are we in for a chance again tonight to see the Northern Light's ?

I was not aware of the activity on the 22nd so sadly missed out on sightings, although i did stop up late last night ( 2am ) i missed out again due to poor weather conditions.

Thanks

PM.