Auroral display

[cliener]

Hi everyone, Another off topic. There is scheduled for October 31st and November 1st an Aurora Borealis show. The sun has a huge sunspot facing us and we are getting a lot of energy tossed our way. So the predicted show is suppose to be really worth watching. This hasn't happened in like a decade so depending on where you are and what you are doing you might try to see this. It is predicted to be visible as far south as Texas. Thanks all and have a great day.

[mike p]

can i see it in pa?

[Flash-57]

The last I heard was that it was only going to be visibile as far south as Maine.

Your best bet is to look for pictures of it on the internet.

[s_n_m]

haha when I read the title I thought you were talking about a new display tech and then the guy asked about seeing it in PA and I thought he said PDA.

[cliener]

You will probably be able to see it in PA. It is supposedly not been this apparent for a decade and about that time (here I go dating myself again) I saw it in IA at about 3am. This one is possibly to go as far south as Texas.

[cliener]

Hey, if you do see it, then post here where you were and how well the display was. okay?

[RNclie]

Saw it tonight very brightly in the sky. I live between Niagara Falls and Buffalo, NY. We weren't sure what it was at first but then figured it out as it got brighter. Very cool!!

[mike p]

wat time? ima look tonight

[ricleo]

someone grab some digital shots and post them here! I wanna see a nice large digital photo of the Auroral display! Not those shrunk down web sized images you see on the various websites :)

[cliener]

I think it depends on when you have your scheduled sunrise. Usually around 2am to 4am because the sun begins to rise around 5-6 if you are in daylight savings time zones. You also want to catch it so you get the best angles. It is coming from the sun but when it is daylight you can't see it, though it is there. So from where ever you are, try to make a judgement call on when to try to view. Good luck on it.

[RNclie]

Originally posted by mike p
wat time? ima look tonight

I actually saw it best between 6:30 and 7:00 PM. I'm sure it depends on where you are.

[cliener]

Tried to see it at 11:00 pm, 12, 1, 2, and 4:00. Too much cloud cover. Probably broke and had the showing of a lifetime at 3:00 am when I was asleep. Will try again tonight though. Anyone have better luck? Post where you were and what time you viewed. Thanks!

[Tixx]

So this is a wise thing to be looking directly at the sun?

[tonyreynolds]

Originally posted by Tixx
So this is a wise thing to be looking directly at the sun?

No it's NOT!

You're thinking of the sun's CORONA, this is the Aurora Borealis, which is caused by charged particles from the sun hitting the earth's ionosphere. It's the similar to the way fluorescent lights work. The Aurora is nomally only seen far to the north, but due to unusually strong solar activity, has been seen lately as far south as Texas.

It can be greenish or redish color depending on the ions that are exited.

Tony

[Tixx]

Originally posted by tonyreynolds


No it's NOT!

You're thinking of the sun's CORONA, this is the Aurora Borealis, which is caused by charged particles from the sun hitting the earth's ionosphere. It's the similar to the way fluorescent lights work. The Aurora is nomally only seen far to the north, but due to unusually strong solar activity, has been seen lately as far south as Texas.

It can be greenish or redish color depending on the ions that are exited.

Tony


Thanks:)

[cliener]

Hey Tixx, NEVER look directly into the sun. It will burn your eyes and blind you. The eye has a lens in it and you will burn out the part that detects light. The Aurora Borealis is seen when it is dark out by the naked eye. I tried again last night but the cloud cover is just too much. However, with just a half moon the clouds were bright. Maybe it will show up again here in a few days. Nasa has some great shots of the sun spitting plasma. www.nasa.gov and don't forget to check www.sciencedaily.com for other neat happenings. Have a great day all!

[tonyreynolds]

This is a great sight for astronomy:

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

Here's the flare that caused all the commotion:

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0310/xflare_soho_big.gif




























Note that the oculting disc on the Sun-orbiting SOHO satellite is about the same size as the Sun. That flare was about 1 1/2 solar diameters in length! That's 1,305,000 miles, or about 1.4% of the 93,000,000 mile distance from the Sun to the Earth. WOW!

Tony

[cliener]

That's beautiful Tonyreynolds! Thanks so much for bringing that in and posting it. I didn't get to see any of the display due to a huge cloud cover the past couple of days. It seems we are getting fallout from the California fires blowing in also. I love that site too.

[tonyreynolds]

Here's another huge flare (Nov. 3rd):


http://space.com/images/031103_solar_eruption_02.jpg







Note that the smaller white circle is the outline of the actual solar photosphere, so this flare is about two times the diameter of the Sun in length or 1.74 MILLION miles...


Tony

[Orincarnia]

woah..................

[Orincarnia]

ok so i'm in south texas, i'd like to know if anyones seen anything like that down here, all of yall are up north, ican only get up if i knwo its gonna happen cause i need my sleep for school but if it hapens thne i can get extra credit or something for getting pictures

[cliener]

Hi Orincarnia, Today is November 5th. I heard there have been two more flares. So check sites like www.nasa.gov or www.sciencedaily.com for possible viewing events of the aurora borealis. I am in central texas but the cloud cover with the last have been too much to see anything. It was overly bright this morning though for the time I was up. (about 6:40) had a lot of daylight for it being that early.

[tonyreynolds]

Another amazing pic:

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0311/auroraOK_ewoldt_c1.jpg

[Unregistered]

That is a great shot Tonyreynolds! Orincarnia (sorry if I misspelled) I saw shots on the news from Houston (the same like in the Oklahoma picture). Big red and green ribbons. Couldn't see zip here (Austin) and the cloud cover even messed up the lunar eclipse. Was supposed to show a blood red moon too. Some things just aren't meant to be I guess. Thanks again to Tonyreynolds and those great posts!

[Orincarnia]

woah, yeah while it was happening there was a cloud cover, it sucked, happened with the lunar eclips too, but of course the next morning it was clear skys until about 6 then it got cloudy AGAIN