Solar and Aurora Activity Chat

[yamkin]

Alienated Object Heading Toward Estranged Environment

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TANdpqyjTFw&feature

[Crepuscular Ray]

Poor little comet. That is now the 2110th that has been discovered using instruments on SOHO, which is pretty impressive.

[yamkin]

GEOMAGNETIC STORM UPDATE

Kp Index is at level 5

Scale of G1

Minor

Power systems: weak power grid fluctuations can occur.

Spacecraft operations: minor impact on satellite operations possible.

Other systems: migratory animals are affected at this and higher levels.

[kar999]

Amber alert received earlier this afternoon from Aurorawatch UK.

The fog and then thin cloud has never shifted all day here and set to return so fat chance of seeing anything even if the storming levels increase.

[Aaron]

Red alert from Aurora Watch

[lorenzo]

Grey alert from Stratus Watch..

[yamkin]

GEOMAGNETIC STORM IN PROGRESS - UPDATE

Kp Index is at level 6

Scale of G2

Moderate

Power systems: high-latitude power systems may experience voltage alarms, long-duration storms may cause transformer damage.

Spacecraft operations: corrective actions to orientation may be required by ground control; possible changes in drag affect orbit predictions.

Other systems: HF radio propagation can fade at higher latitudes.

[shuggee]

Crookstown magnetometer now back in the green zone after the red spike triggering the alert. Grey skies all around but blue overhead at the moment...

[cyclonic happiness]

_{So does this mean we could be able to see the aurora tonight in certain parts of the uk?}

_{If so, do you have some sort of idea how far south it'll get?}

[shuggee]

All the data we have that can inform a judgement is in this thread CH:

http://forum.netweat...sources-thread/

GeorgeWx has posted in the past with an interesting observation on the data in the first post in that thread - the dial showing the Bz component. A couple of hours ago that was showing -10. And lo and behold the Crookstown magnetometer (run by Lancaster Uni Physics) went bananas. It appears to me at least that if you have a KP index above 3 or 4, and the Bz is wildly negative, then someone somewhere in the UK will have a chance at seeing the aurora - weather and time of day permitting. So many variables!!

[Aaron]

The sun has set here and the cloud has increased as it does so.. !!!! Typical really

[chrisb1357]

Whats the chances of seeing them tonight?

[The PIT]

All the data we have that can inform a judgement is in this thread CH:

http://forum.netweat...sources-thread/

GeorgeWx has posted in the past with an interesting observation on the data in the first post in that thread - the dial showing the Bz component. A couple of hours ago that was showing -10. And lo and behold the Crookstown magnetometer (run by Lancaster Uni Physics) went bananas. It appears to me at least that if you have a KP index above 3 or 4, and the Bz is wildly negative, then someone somewhere in the UK will have a chance at seeing the aurora - weather and time of day permitting. So many variables!!

Ah that explains why the cloud has rolled in again. As Aaron says typical.

[Northernlights]

Clear starry skies have allowed me to see a moderate aurora to the north across the Firth with billowing cutains of yellow and green light about an hour ago but then it faded .Will keep a look out tonight to see if it improves.Stars look very beautiful tonight lack of moonlight helping .Aurora Storm is very jealous and says that even Chile cannot beat here for the best stargazing

[kar999]

Scandinavian Aurora webcams showing some nice live displays. EDIT: Between the clouds!

http://pl.wehrle.ws/plcams2.htm

Anyone in Northern Britain could still be in with a chance as the wind speed is still c 700km/sec and most importantly the Bz is still tilted South ... you just need a big fan to blow away the cloud cover.... fogged out here all day with temperatures no higher than 10c... so much for the warmest day of the year!

As Shuggs says keep your eye on the links in the resources thread.

Edited March 15, 2012 by kar999

[yamkin]

GEOMAGNETIC STORM UPDATE

Kp Index is at level 5

Scale of G1

Minor

Power systems: weak power grid fluctuations can occur.

Spacecraft operations: minor impact on satellite operations possible.

Other systems: migratory animals are affected at this and higher levels.

[yamkin]

Kp Index is now at level 4

[Essexwader]

A read of this shows that earthquakes aren't on the increase:

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/topics/increase_in_earthquakes.php

[Polar Maritime]

Some nice colours showing up here tonight http://www.aurorasky.../live-camera/9/

Edited March 16, 2012 by Polar Maritime

[yamkin]

Solar Flares Knock Out LightSquared Satellite As Run of Bad Fortune Continues

Earlier this week we noted that recent solar flares managed to knock HughesNet's Spaceway 3 satellite offline for a significant part of Tuesday. User viperadamr See Profile writes in to note that the flares also took out LightSquared's Skyterra 1 satellite, which has been out of service since the original solar flare on March 7. The last update from the company was on March 9 insisting they'd have the satellite operational again by last Sunday -- something that didn't happen. The outage arrives as LightSquared slowly stumbles toward death after being rejected a necessary waiver to operate their interference-prone hybrid LTE network.

http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Solar-Flares-Knock-Out-LightSquared-Satellite-118847?nocomment=1

[Polar Maritime]

GREEN SKIES FOR ST. PATRICK'S DAY? NOAA forecasters estimate a 20% chance of geomagnetic storms around the poles on March 17th in response to a high-speed solar wind stream buffeting Earth's magnetic field. Northern Lights could descend all the way down to Ireland, concluding St. Patrick's Day with a flourish of heavenly green. Aurora alerts: text, phone.

Just outside Edmonton, Alberta, photographer Zoltan Kenwell started celebrating a day early when this display appeared on March 16th:

"I have never seen the auroras dance so quickly before. It was an unbelievable show," says Kenwell. "The view looking straight up was incredible. I laid down in the middle of a field and just watched in total amazement. Here is a time-lapse movie."

more images: from Shawn Malone of Marquette, Michigan; from Thomas Achermann of Muonio, Finnish Lapland; from Ruslan Ahmetsafin of Aykhal, Yakutia, Russia; from Jaromir Stanczyk of Iceland; from Rich Stromberg near Anthracite Ridge, Alaska; from Andrei Penescu of Kangerlussuaq, Greenland; from Matt Moffet of Bozeman, Montana; from Nate Deppe of Virginia, MN; from Iurie Belegurschi of Þingvellir National Park, Iceland; from Brian Whittaker flying 36,000 feet over Greenland; from Travis Novitsky of Grand Portage, MN; from Lance Parrish of Skiland, Alaska;

[karyo]

^{Solar flux down to 99! That's an impressive drop now that sunspot 1429 has gone.}

^Karyo

[The PIT]

Some nice colours showing up here tonight http://www.aurorasky.../live-camera/9/

dn't

Bum didn't think of looking.

[yamkin]

PRESSURE ON MAGNETOSPHERE HAS INCREASED

Solarham has issued an alert:

SOLAR FLARE ALERT:

A moderate solar flare reaching M1.3 took place at 20:39 UTC Saturday evening.

The flare was centered around Sunspot 1434. Stay Tuned to SolarHam.com for the latest information.

Edited March 17, 2012 by yamkin

[yamkin]

Farside Blast

A bright Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) is seen in the latest STEREO Behind COR2 images early Sunday morning. The explosion was a farsided event and directed away from Earth.

Farside CME (Sunday) - STEREO Behind COR2

Edited March 18, 2012 by yamkin