Guest alex Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 It's not the strain of skunk, Tooj. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tooj 17 Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 It's not the strain of skunk, Tooj. What time are people expecting potential things to happen tonight then? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest alex Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 After dark. I don't think they can predict it that accurately, rather they just know when conditions are conducive (i.e. clear night and high levels of solar activity). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tooj 17 Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 After dark. I don't think they can predict it that accurately, rather they just know when conditions are conducive (i.e. clear night and high levels of solar activity). Fuck it, think I'm going to take a drive up north "after dark." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christmas Tree 4725 Posted January 23, 2012 Author Share Posted January 23, 2012 Northern lights: did you see the aurora borealis? The phenomenon was visible in skies above the UK and US on Sunday night. But how many people were able to see it? Share your images if you were lucky enough to capture the lights to help chart this most recent display People in parts of Scotland, Northern Ireland, Ireland and along England's north east coast were treated to a dazzling display of the northern lights on Sunday night. Also known as the aurora borealis, the lights appear in a ring shape creating a glowing curtain across the sky. According to our insiders' guide to the northern lights: This glow is caused by high-energy electrons colliding with oxygen atoms and nitrogen molecules. The basic process is the same as that of a neon sign, which involves a vacuum and a high voltage electrical discharge. The electric power is generated by a combination of the solar wind, a hot ionized gas blowing out from the sun, and the Earth's magnetic field. This produces more than 1,000 times the electrical power of the world's largest power plant. Images shared by skygazers on Twitter suggest that Sunday's spectacle was also visible from parts of US, particularly the east coast, and Iceland. Did you see the northern lights on Sunday? We want to find out how many places the aurora was visible from and are asking people to share their photos of the spectacle with us. http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/jan/23/northern-lights-photographs?newsfeed=true Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Face 29 Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 A powerful flare erupted from the sun Thursday (Jan. 19), unleashing a plasma wave that may supercharge the northern lights for skywatchers in high latitudes this weekend. The solar flare occurred at about 11:30 am EST (1600 GMT) and touched off a massive solar explosion — known as a coronal mass ejection — aimed at Earth, space weather experts and officials said. The charged particles from the sun explosion should reach Earth by Saturday night (Jan. 21), and could amp up northern lights displays when they hit the upper atmosphere. "Forecasters say strong geomagnetic storms are possible when the cloud arrives during the late hours of Jan. 21st. High-latitude (and possibly middle-latitude) sky watchers should be alert for auroras this weekend," the skywatching website Spaceweather.com announced in an alert. RELATED: Are you scientifically literate? Take our quiz! Several space telescopes recorded photos and video of the solar flare, including NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) and the Solar Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). [Photo and video of the solar flare] According to the Space Weather Prediction Center maintained by NOAA, Thursday's solar flare erupted from an active sunspot group called Region 1401. Another solar hotspot, called Region 1402, is also fired off a flare, the center reported. Auroras occur when charged particles from the sun interact with Earth's upper atmosphere, releasing visible light in the process. The particles are funneled toward Earth's polar regions by the planet's magnetic field, with the northern auroral displays known as the aurora borealis, or northern lights. The southern counterpart is called the aurora australis, or southern lights. Thursday's solar flare rated as a powerful M2-class sun storm on the scale used by astronomers to measure flare strength. M-class storms are powerful, but mid-range, types of solar flares. They fall between the weaker C-class flares and the most powerful X-class solar storms, which can pose a threat to satellites and astronauts in orbit, cause widespread communications interference and damage infrastructure on Earth when aimed directly at the planet. SDO mission scientists have said that sunspot group 1401 has been unleashing solar flares almost daily as the sun's rotation slowly turned the solar hotspot toward Earth in recent days. On Wednesday (Jan. 18), the region unleashed an M1.7-class solar flare, they said in a Twitter post. The sun is currently in the middle of an active phase of its 11-year solar weather cycle. The current sun storm cycle, called Solar Cycle 24, is expected to peak in 2013, NASA scientists have said. http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2012/0120/Northern-lights-Huge-solar-flare-may-trigger-Saturday-night-show Maybe missed the best of it by now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christmas Tree 4725 Posted January 23, 2012 Author Share Posted January 23, 2012 Also add this bit of geek stuff from the comments section of the above piece. I would heartily recommend https://twitter.com/#!/Camilla_SDO mascot of the Solar Dynamic Observatory! Live views via SDO itself in different wavelengths: http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/ Also essential is http://spaceweather.com/ Just in. Or rather out: "Jan. 23rd around 0359 UT, big sunspot 1402 erupted, producing a long-duration M9-class solar flare. The explosion's M9-ranking puts it on the threshold of being an X-flare, the most powerful kind. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured the flare's extreme ultraviolet flash" Pictures Last night's activity was created by a class M2.6 last week. However these blasts are directional and if they miss the Earth then there will not be much to see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Face 29 Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-16679422 Cannit believe I was watching Shuitter Island with the curtains shut and this was 5 minutes up the road. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christmas Tree 4725 Posted January 23, 2012 Author Share Posted January 23, 2012 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-16679422 Photos taken in Northumberland on Sunday......Very Jealous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Face 29 Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 http://www.bbc.co.uk...d-tyne-16679422 Photos taken in Northumberland on Sunday......Very Jealous. Too slow grandad From whitley bay too. No need to go driving into the middle of nowhere. BBC say it'll be tonight and tomorrow... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16681732 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest alex Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 Apologies if I'm stating the obvious but you'll need a tripod to photograph them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christmas Tree 4725 Posted January 23, 2012 Author Share Posted January 23, 2012 Wow! Taken in Norway on Sunday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Face 29 Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 photoshopped Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christmas Tree 4725 Posted January 23, 2012 Author Share Posted January 23, 2012 NOAA forecasters estimate a 10% - 25% chance of continued geomagnetic storms tonight as effects from the CME impact subside. The odds will increase again on Jan. 24-25 as a new CME (from today's M9-clare) approaches Earth. High-latitude sky watchers should remain alert for auroras http://spaceweather.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajax_andy 0 Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 NOAA forecasters estimate a 10% - 25% chance of continued geomagnetic storms tonight as effects from the CME impact subside. The odds will increase again on Jan. 24-25 as a new CME (from today's M9-clare) approaches Earth. High-latitude sky watchers should remain alert for auroras http://spaceweather.com/ 10 - 25% is a pretty wide guess... basically 1 in 10 to 1 in 4 chance of seeing them. I'm thinking of heading off up the coast with the camera and the missus tonight to see if I can spot them. Anyone think I'm wasting my time? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew 4748 Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 Aye mate, dump her Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajax_andy 0 Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 Aye mate, dump her Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christmas Tree 4725 Posted January 23, 2012 Author Share Posted January 23, 2012 Oh the agony of indecision. Once in a lifetime cosmic event of spectacular proportions or two bottles of Grolsch and a Radox bath....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
@yourservice 67 Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 Dunstanburgh castle/Embleton to Holy Island causeway should be good if it's showing again tonight. It'll be swarming on the coast so inland for me, on high ground. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JawD 99 Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 Thinking about trying to get up the coast myself tomorrow night. Or walk up the big fuck off hill where I live (and less light pollution) but I was thinking of trying up Otterburn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christmas Tree 4725 Posted January 23, 2012 Author Share Posted January 23, 2012 Anyone have any idea on timings. Ie as soon as it's dark or midnight or early hours? If their visible from St Marys I can't see why they wouldn't be visible from Souter lighthouse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
@yourservice 67 Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 Not looking good. http://aurorawatch.lancs.ac.uk/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christmas Tree 4725 Posted January 23, 2012 Author Share Posted January 23, 2012 Not looking good.http://aurorawatch.lancs.ac.uk/ Isn't that chart relating to the last 24 hours when there was lots of activity???? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christmas Tree 4725 Posted January 23, 2012 Author Share Posted January 23, 2012 Not looking good.http://aurorawatch.lancs.ac.uk/ Isn't that chart relating to the last 24 hours when there was lots of activity???? Edit having looked at their Terrys they failed to predict last nights show and have been saying chances were low all week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christmas Tree 4725 Posted January 23, 2012 Author Share Posted January 23, 2012 Couple of bits. Pop aurora into twitter search and some great aurora pics, particularly one from the Yorkshire dales. Secondly, a physics geek who goes by @iam_iam seems to know his onions and has said tonight is the calm before tomorrows storm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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