New aurora activity

[Scott A. Kampas]

The northern half of the US and similar latitudes may see the aurora tonight, a strong geomagnetic storm is in progress at the moment and may intensify further. A mid-latitude auroral activity warning (http://www.spacew.com/www/midlatwrnrpt.html) is in effect. Unfortunately, many areas are covered in clouds.

http://www.spacew.com/
http://www.sec.noaa.gov/SWN/
http://www.spaceweather.com/

Scott

[Eric Friedebach]

We had clear skies in southern MN last evening. Yellowish in the center of the horizon. I’ve read that near Fargo, they stretched across the horizon and were much brighter. Luckily, I’m in a rural area with no light pollution.

[B Ozanne]

We had great views from the summit of Mount Washington last night. A nice surprise too as we weren't expecting it.

http://www.mountwashington.org/comments/20...5/010811-lg.jpg (http://www.mountwashington.org/comments/2005/010811-lg.jpg)

[Scott A. Kampas]

A sunspot has grown extremely rapidly and is now capable of producing energetic solar flares with CMEs that would be earth-directed. Major aurora activity is likely this week.

Very impressive animation of growing sunspot: http://www.spaceweather.com/images2005/14j...n05/720_big.gif (http://www.spaceweather.com/images2005/14jan05/720_big.gif)

Scott

[Jon Miller]

A MID and LOW lattitude aurora watch is now active for the 18th due to M and X class flare related CME's from sunspot 720 :
http://www.spacew.com/index.php

[Skip Talbot]

Which flare is going to hit us first? The M or the X class, or both at the same time?

[Jon Miller]

The large M class CME is first acording to the auroral update:
http://www.spacew.com/update.html

[Skip Talbot]

The large M class CME is first acording to the auroral update:
http://www.spacew.com/update.html

Thanks for the update Jon.

What kind of photographic equipment do I need to capture this event? I know you can replicate it quite nicely with a DSLR but my 5.0 megapixel sony doesn't have manual exposure so I think that is out. Do you think I will have better look with video? I might borrow my dad's Panasonic 3CCD digital cam. Its no VX2100 but it be worth hauling out tonight.

[Mike Hollingshead]

OH MY GOD The first display was simply incredible and that is from Nebraska!!! I hope it comes back.

[Skip Talbot]

How long did it last, Mike? I have been checking every so often from the Chicago suburbs and haven't seen anything yet.

[Glen Romine]

Wow, I'm surprised you've been able to see anything already. All of the sensors suggest the CME has not yet arrived even at the ACE craft. Generally need a G3 (Kp >7) to be visible here.

http://www.sec.noaa.gov/alerts/warnings_timeline.html

Take lots of nice pictures for us Mike!

Glen

[Jeff Lawson]

Hmm...I didn't see anything. But, then again, I wasn't watching. :)

I guess I'll have to stick closer to the window tonight. Only drag is I'm south of Omaha, so the northern sky is pretty bright. Honestly, as cold as it is, I have little desire to drive across town and set up outside.

[Mike Hollingshead]

Ok, I'm just kidding. Just trying to keep you guys on your toes! Hehe.

[Jeff Lawson]

I'm gonna drive up there and throw you in the river, Mike. :D

[Skip Talbot]

I'm gonna drive up there and throw you in the river, Mike. :D

Eject him into space and let the CME do the rest. :wink:

[Doug_Kiesling]

The northern half of the US and similar latitudes may see the aurora tonight, a strong geomagnetic storm is in progress at the moment and may intensify further. A [url=http://www.spacew.com/www/midlatwrnrpt.

I chased, I saw a faint glow and got to see some great clear sky near Hinkley MN. Lowest temps recorded while waiting for the strange lights in the sky was -29F and thats NOT with the wind chill.

http://www.lightningboy.net/another_day_at_office.jpg

[Brad Emel]

Sunspot 720 sent out a big solar flare with yet another CME coming our way. The flare was an X3. The Space Environment Center (SEC) is currently reporting a G3 geomagnetic storm, probably from the previous flares. According to http://www.spaceweather.com the storm is going to hit sometime on the 18th or 19th.

Hopefully it will be powerful enough to see in central Illinois. The storm last November was unbelievable!

[Mike Hollingshead]

Tonight is the BIG one. I can feel it, lol. JINX.....sorry all. I predict it will start at 4 p.m. central and last right up until sunset. The clouds will go away just in time to see it go bye bye. Seriously though, good things are going to happen tonight in the Aurora department. I am not sure I've ever seen them mention possible extreme geo storming. Usually they stop at strong to severe and let it do what it will do. The one that got us on the 7th of November wasn't even an X class flare was it?

http://www.sec.noaa.gov/ftpdir/plots/2004_plots/xray/20041106_xray.gif

[Jeff Lawson]

I'm excited about tonight, but I'm worried about clouds. The last couple of nights, we've had clear skies (for the most part) up until about 1:00 AM, at which point it goes from clear to overcast in about a half hour's time. It looks like we might be starting off with cloud cover tonight. Bah.

If it's clear, though, I might go ahead and drive north of town and get away from the city lights. I mean, I look at those shots you got from Blair back in November, and that's only 30 miles up the road, so it's not like I'd have to go far to find dark skies. I guess I could drive west or east, for that matter, but might as well head north and get Omaha behind me.

[Jeff Snyder]

If you aren't space weather-saavy, and live near OK, you can check out NWSFO OUNs little graphic at http://www.srh.noaa.gov/oun/enhanced.php , which I'm assume they'll update later today... Now, if only I had my new Sigma 24-70mm for my 20D...

[Mike Hollingshead]

Yeah Jeff even if you were to drive east or northeast a bit it should get better. The ones last time were seen smack in the middle of Omaha, but of course not as well. I think you'd be fine on the north side of Council Bluffs. That is if it isn't as cloudy as it is right now. Might actually have to make a bit of a drive for this one tonight. Looks like Norfolk or Yankton should be clear by sunset. At least it will be warmer!

[Susan Strom]

I wonder if this is worth another late night in the desert. I'm at the 34th parallel but during the last big show, a faint red glow was seen out of Flagstaff, so there might be a shot. I'll watch the indices and see. Wouldn't that be a trip if it was seen this far south (it has before, in Payson, 1 hour up the road from my town).

[Mike Hollingshead]

Impact! It is herrrreeeeeeeee. Solar wind speed just went from crawl to near max. Now 2 more steps, Bz needs to go south and clouds need to go with it.

[Jeff Lawson]

Sigh...I'm completely socked in here. And given the bit of snowmelt that occurred today, we're probably in for some fog, even if the cloud cover does manage to beat it (which, looking at IR, seems unlikely).

[Mike Hollingshead]

Hopefully the winds will keep us from getting much fog.

[Mike Hollingshead]

LOL sounds like it was already here!
http://www.spacew.com/aurora/forum.html

[Bill Schintler]

A large solar event occurred at 7 UTC today. The effects of it should reach the earth starting at around 6 UTC tomorrow (CST: tonight at midnight). This may result in a significant auroral display in the northern US states (where it's clear to see it).

Here's an animation:
http://gse.gi.alaska.edu/recent/javascript_movie.html
- bill

[Skip Talbot]

Can't the aurora wait until after this snow system has moved out of here? Looks like we will still be socked in with clouds tomorrow. Ai ya!

[Bill Schintler]

http://www.sec.noaa.gov/rt_plots/kp_3d.html

[Glen Romine]

Yeah, field indices are hopping all over the place - a major storm indeed. Might still be going strong by the time sunset gets here - but clouds will be a problem for many of us. Maybe Mike will be able to capture some more eye candy for us.

Glen

[Bill Schintler]

Yes, this latest geomagnetic storm should continue 12 hours or so. Auroras should be visible in northern Europe and northern US (where weather permits) - bill

[Mike Hollingshead]

Not again. I'm tired of these silly things. They are worse then finding tornadoes. Hmmmm, to head west or not to the small window of clearing...

[Jeff Lawson]

It looks like the peak of the storm occurred during the day. And it's cloudy. Oh well.

I'd have to tie my tripod down anyway...

OMAHA EPPLEY: CLOUDY, 34/28, NW26G49, 29.92R