One lucky cameraman from the city of Apatity in the northwestern region of Murmansk in Russia managed to capture startling footage of the Aurora Borealis (or Northern Lights) on Sunday evening. The unbelievable video was taken by Aleksander Zhiganov, who spent several hours waiting in freezing temperatures just to catch a glimpse of the rarely observed natural phenomenon.
Must be the solar wind escaping from that big hole in the Southern Sun.
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Here’s something that will make you say WTF?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DE1xcYXTZJI&feature=player_detailpage
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2898667/Is-UFO-crashing-ejecting-miniature-spacecraft-meteorite-breaking-apart-Mysterious-glowing-orb-filmed-flying-fireball-California.html
My theory is that it was a large chondritic meteor that broke up. You can see the object fragmenting along it’s entire flight path. It’s hard to imagine there being enough pressure to cause a fragment to get blown in the opposite direction at such a high velocity. It sounds like there was a double sonic boom at the moment the fragment moved aft.
Having witnessed this phenomenon in person a few times in Alaska, if you can get there, put it on your bucket list. It is a truly spectacular and almost spiritual sight to witness and experience first hand.
The Aurora Borealis is one of the sights I have promised myself I will see before I die.
The northern lights are easily visible from the northern US. You have to be vigilant in checking the indices that signal Aurora and get away from city lights. They are always most prominent after local midnight so it is a late night/early morning affair. If anyone is interested I can post a link or two and instructions that can allow you to see them without traveling to Alaska or Canada. I live near 47 degrees north latitude and I’ve seen a number of displays that actually caused me to worry. They can be VERY intense at times.
What is it with Aths and astral phenomena?
T4C, it looks like NOAA has completely revamped their website recently so I had to do some digging to find the info I have used for the last 15+ years.
Charged particles arriving from the Sun interact with atoms in Earth’s atmosphere. This interaction causes the electrons around the atoms to give off photons (light) in the form of Aurora. The Earth’s magnetic field lines funnel these charged particles along these field lines moving towards Earth’s magnetic poles. The magnetic field lines are not uniform or static. It is easier to observe Aurora from the USA than it is in the UK despite the UK being at higher latitudes than the USA. After reading observation reports and observing actual Aurora for 10 years or so I figured out that my longitude is among the best in the USA outside Alaska to observe Aurora but the USA is pretty good overall. Displays resulting from very large X-Class solar flares are visible on the equator so I’m sure you’ll eventually see it in Richmond, VA.
The most important thing you can do to see Aurora is find the darkest location in your area away from as much man made light as possible. I cannot stress how important this is. The quickest way to find a suitable location is to contact your local astronomy club. The will know the darkest location as well as the best locations to observe Aurora. Once you know where to go, you’ll need to get your eyes dark adapted by avoiding all sources of light (except stars). Human eyes take about 30 minutes to dilate under dark skies. From the Richmond area you’ll want to have a clear unobstructed view primarily to the north, north west. Being north and west of the most light polluted areas will help as well.
Unless you are in Alaska or mid-northern, Canada, Auroral light is mostly subtle and it moves around. I’ve seen it move in slow waves and flash just like a strobe light. The brightness varies from “I think I see some haze over there” to “holy shit! the sky is on fire!” Color in Aurora is even more subtle that the light itself. You will predominantly see white, pale pink and pale green unless it is really bright. This is due to how the human eye works in low light. The colors themselves correspond to the altitude of the electron interaction. THe best times to observe are after local mid-night when there is no moon in the sky. Most amateur astronomers hate the fuckin’ Moon and we rarely observe anything when the Moon is up. Basically, unless you are observing the results of a X-25+, Class flare, you are not just going to walk outside for 10 minutes and see it. Not much in this world is free.
I use two indices to determine when I can see the Aurora from my area. The first is the PLanetary Kp Index. http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/planetary-k-index The higher reading, the better your chances. In my area I have to see a minimum of 3-4 in order to see a very faint band of light, very low on my far northern horizon. More often than not, Aurora will be a shimmering curtain of light seen between 10 and 60 degrees above your northern horizon. (Ninety degrees is straight above your head.)
The next index is now being called the 30-Minute Aurora Forecast located here: http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/30-minute-aurora-forecast They have totally changed the numerical values for this index so I will have to study it some to know what numbers I need to see in order to see Aurora in my location. You want to use the left side window. After you click play it will load and you’ll see date and time (UT) in the upper right along with Hemispheric Power (in giga-watts). Again, the higher the better. If you watch the “movie” you’ll see it vary in intensity as well as decrease in latitude. Oddly enough, there is one hell of a show happening right now as I type this but I have freezing fog and can’t see shit plus the Moon is up so I’m doubly screwed. Such is the life of an amateur astronomer! I’d bet that if you already had a dark place picked out, you might even just be able to see this one even with the Moon.
Drudge and most news sites will have headlines when really big solar flares occur but your best bet would be to bookmark the two sites I did above plus http://www.spaceweather.com/ for current news on solar flares. Do this religiously……..like every time you hit the internet. Conditions and intensities change very rapidly but if you are diligent you will eventually see a great show. I caution people to temper their expectations because what you see with your eye will not look like photographs or videos of the same display. The next few years will likely be your best chance over the next decade to see Aurora. Or, you could just book a trip to the far north in the dead of winter and see it much easier. Oddly enough, when the biggest flares hit, people in the far north look south to see the lights.
Regarding the http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/30-minute-aurora-forecast map, I meant to add that the colored area or “visible” line does not have to extend to your area in order to be able to see the Aurora. In the first picture posted above by Stucky you can see how the Aurora looks like a curtain. In that same picture Hudson’s Bay is at the left center and you can see that if you were in Hudson’s Bay or even further south, you’d be able to see the curtain of light to the north.
I haven’t seen a report yet from Virginia but this mornings Aurora was visible in NY, PA, IA, IN, IL so I expect VA should have seen it.
There is also a magnificent comet traversing the constellation of Orion right now that is visible to the unaided eye. Binoculars will help. This comet (Lovejoy) is moving north and should get brighter over the next few weeks. I’ll try to do a post about it this weekend.