Aurora or Northern Lights

Keith Williams · Jan 24, 2012

Some time ago, someone on here asked about Northern Lights. The sun is very active right now and we will be having exceptional displays over the next few days. To view a picture of these aurora go to:

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

Astronomy picture of the day for Jan 24, 2012.

Keith Williams

Stephen Newell · Jan 24, 2012

Curious, how far south has anyone seen the Northern Lights. I've heard that during the Civil War the lights were seen in Fredericksburg, VA.

1936 · Jan 24, 2012

In the early 90's I saw them in North central Indiana. I pulled off I 65 to watch, the best I have seen out side of Canada.

Ichabod · Jan 24, 2012

When I was about 10 to 12 years old we saw it from our home a little northeast of Savannah, GA. We were watching tv and were alerted by the local news. That would have been sometime about the mid 1950's.

Ichabod

Dachshund · Jan 24, 2012

I've got some photos I took in the 1980's of the northern lights while I was aboard ship, headed to Norway. You can't see a whole lot, but you can make out shapes of the helicopters on the deck. There was enough light to use my cheap 110 camera - sure wish I'd had a REAL camera back then....

John M · Jan 24, 2012

Saw them in the upstate of SC about 15 years ago.

Anonymous-0 · Jan 24, 2012

(quoted from post at 00:12:19 01/24/12) Some time ago, someone on here asked about Northern Lights. The sun is very active right now and we will be having exceptional displays over the next few days. To view a picture of these aurora go to:

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

Astronomy picture of the day for Jan 24, 2012.

Keith Williams

for some reason, I thought I'd never see them here, but will start looking this evening...... are they constant, or at a certain time (what time)?

Keith Williams · Jan 24, 2012

Dave2,
I can not give you an exact time or location.

Long explanation:
Sunspot activity on the sun's surface leads to ejection of high energy particles along magnetic lines. The sun rotates in 24.47 days. We have aurora activity when a "wave" of particles intersects earth's orbit. Those particles travel at various speeds. I understand it to take some calculating to figure out when that would happen. Then you would have to figure out where you are located in relation to the wave as it flows in on the earth's magnetic field. So, no.
They are sure pretty though!
Keith

641Dave · Jan 24, 2012

I was out last night and didn't see any down here in Texas.

Anonymous-0 · Jan 24, 2012

I am in our vacation home in south central Yukon Canada & see them nearly every nite. This is our twelth year we have owned the home & they still make me stop what ever I'm doing & stare up at the sky. I have seen Yellows, Greens, Reds & Purples. Gerald

RayP(MI) · Jan 24, 2012

After dark!

Seriously, if you have a clear sky, with the magnitude of this flare, you may well have a long duration show.

tjdub · Jan 24, 2012

I saw <a href="http://spaceweather.com/aurora/gallery_01oct11.htm">this light show</a> back in October. There was a bright red band stretching the horizon from East to West. As first I thought the old nuclear reactor across the river must have caught fire or something, but then I saw the more familiar green flickering to the North. On that October event, they were seen as far South as Alabama and Oklahoma. I've also read that that solar storm is what disrupted the Arctic jetstream which is why winter took so long to get here this year.

tjdub · Jan 24, 2012

<a href="http://spaceweather.com/">spaceweather.com</a> gives forecasts for when there are likely to be aurora.

Aurora or Northern Lights

Keith Williams

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Stephen Newell

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1936

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Ichabod

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Dachshund

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John M

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Anonymous-0

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Keith Williams

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641Dave

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Anonymous-0

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RayP(MI)

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tjdub

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tjdub

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