Northern Lights Overrated

[mistermack]

Obviously, Gloucester isn't an ideal viewing location.
But I didn't think it was up to much. Listen to the news, and you would think it was incredibly beautiful.
I must have missed a bit.
And when they show it on screen, from way up north, it still doesn't look much cop.
The Sun shining through clouds can look pretty dramatic. But it photographs well too.
Have you seen what I missed?

[Svartalf]

Northen lights are one of the few reasons I might want to go far enough North

[cronus]

The same effect can be obtained with a couple of bottles of wine and a electric light bulb.

[MiM]

Unluckily, even Helsinki isn't north enough to have any regular displays. Every now and then, we get a few green fingers, that are usually rather Meh. Once I have been lucky enough to see an absolutely spectacular display, with blue and red and green chasing each other all over the sky.

The different colours (when they occur), the unpredictability of the movement and the fact that they are not as everyday as the evening sky is what make them spectacular.

[orpheus]

It's weird — during all my years in the Nordic countries, I only saw a few feeble aurora displays. But in consecutive summers in the mid-80s I saw several jaw-droppingly spectacular ones in western Massachusetts. I'd have thought that too far south.

[MiM]

They are tilted more towards that side of the globe, so they will be visible at significantly lower latitudes in Canada/the US.

[orpheus]

Ah, good to know.

[macdoc]

A top end auroral display is few in a lifetime. Many of the photos are time lapse. This was a decent sized storm


and even impressed this Icelander

"As I was driving from Reykjavik to north Iceland I saw this red halo on the sky. My first thought was: A volcano must be erupting!," says Gunnarsson. "Then, as the green colors appeared, I realized this was the aurora borealis. It was one of the most magnificent aurorashows I have ever seen."

the storm was faded when it hit NA

f the magnetic storm had lasted just a little longer, bright lights would have appeared over some northern-tier US states, too. Instead, the display was rapidly fading by the time night fell over North America. High-latitude sky watchers should remain alert for auroras as Earth moves through the wake of the CME. NOAA forecasters estimate a 55% chance of resurgent storms on Feb. 28th

You can get email alerts when aurora conditions are good.
http://spaceweather.com/

We are likely spending close to $8k next Feb to give my GF from Australia a shot at them from North Norway but there is no guarantee.

I;ve seen a few reasonable displays but Southern Ontario is so light polluted it's hard and they often not all that spectacular that far south anyways.
Some pretty greens and reds.

But I had one that had me literally seeing the earth racing through space as the waves came flowing overhead right to the zenith and beyond...this was all white and almost made me want to cling to the earth face down it was so disorienting to see.

Clearly the CME was aligned in such a way that it rippled over the planet just like standing waves in water.
Not colourful....just drop dead awe inspiring and very bright.

Meteors and meteor showers I've done better and comets......dumb luck being right place and right time.
Unlikely to top this in my lifetime.



exactly what I saw three nights running from Hermanus Sa.
We were staying right on the ocean and that sucker hung there for three nights running

There is no way to capture the scale of the tail - it just kept going and going in the night sky.
The sky was darker over the S Atlanic and the comet brighter than shown after the sun set.

[Audley Strange]

So let's cut to the chase MM, what was the rating and what do you think would have been a fairer number?

[mistermack]

They are tilted more towards that side of the globe, so they will be visible at significantly lower latitudes in Canada/the US.

I assume that that's because of the difference between the magnetic north pole, and the actual pole?

I believe the magnetic north pole is due north of Banff in the Rockies. I vaguely remember seeing the lights from there years ago. Life was a bit of a haze at the time, so I'm not sure if it's a real memory.
I do remember some crystal clear skies there, and some breathtaking moon-rises, but the memory of the aurora is hazy. Bit like the real thing, I guess.

[mistermack]

So let's cut to the chase MM, what was the rating and what do you think would have been a fairer number?

Eh?
I don't know of a rating system. But from one to ten, last night was a one. It was much like the sun was just hanging on below the horizon, when it should have been well and truly dark.

I just wonder what the camera is missing. Photos of the aurora don't seem to match the description that people give in words. The photos look pretty unimpressive, whereas people say things like amazing and awe inspiring. And video on the tv doesn't give it any more ''wow''.

It must be something only the naked eye can see.
That's my theory anyway.

[macdoc]

MM showing his dinosaur heritage......around Banff might have been in the Jurassic



http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/geomag/GeomagneticPoles.shtml

and this does not qualify as "spectacular"???!!!





you need a new monitor or eyes



where we are heading within the year

http://www.visitnorway.com/northern-lights/

[JimC]

Apparently one can sometimes get a glimpse of the Aurora Australis from Tasmania in winter...

But that involves going to Tasmania in winter...

[mistermack]

MM showing his dinosaur heritage......around Banff might have been in the Jurassic

Well actually, Mac old boy, you've got it wrong again. ( yet again ).
Banff is longitude 115 deg W.
Magnetic North in 2005 was also longitude 115 deg W

So Magnetic North was due north of Banff, in 2005. It's wandered a bit since.
2005 wasn't a particularly good year for dinosaurs.

Unless you count chickens.

And no, I don't find the aurora spectacular in those photos. Take away the trees, the mountains and the lakes, and you would have some pretty bland photos.
But that's a matter of taste. Others obviously disagree.

[Blind groper]

http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2010/ ... s-in-space

I have never seen an aurora. But when I was a kid, I saw the man-made equivalent (reference above). A nuclear weapon detonated by the USA 250 miles above the Earth resulted in the whole sky appearing to be ablaze. Amazing stuff.