Aurora?...maybe?

[bfolk]

I live in Philadelphia and went outside to look at the sky after getting a phone call from a friend.  He said that he could see the northern lights from route 309 headed S.  I looked and low and behold, I saw several bright, white streaks in the sky.  I live in East Oak Lane and looked towards Broad S. and could see 2 really clearly and several other faint bands.  I hope others on here had the chance to see this.  I think it's the Aurora, but I have a pretty good feeling that it isn't clouds.  Sorry for the lack of pictures.  I'll go back out later and see if I can take a few.

 

[MeteorWayne]

Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>I live in Philadelphia and went outside to look at the sky after getting a phone call from a friend.&nbsp; He said that he could see the northern lights from route 309 headed S.&nbsp; I looked and low and behold, I saw several bright, white streaks in the sky.&nbsp; I live in East Oak Lane and looked towards Broad S. and could see 2 really clearly and several other faint bands.&nbsp; I hope others on here had the chance to see this.&nbsp; I think it's the Aurora, but I have a pretty good feeling that it isn't clouds.&nbsp; Sorry for the lack of pictures.&nbsp; I'll go back out later and see if I can take a few. <br />Posted by bfolk</DIV><br /><br />Sorry, it must indeed have been clouds.&nbsp; With the quarter moon rising at that time it was brobably lighting up the bands rather eerily. That makes sense with the thin cirrus that were moving in at that time. The sun and aurora have been extremenly quiet for the last 2 days. In addition, it wopuld be far more likely to see an aurora looking north up Rt 309 than south. It is rare that we would see aurora to our south at this latitude. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>

 

[bfolk]

<p>I saw some pics online of what was going on with an explanation of sorts...</p><p>http://www.nbcphiladelpia.com/weather/stories/Planes_Rains_or_UFOs.html</p><p>They seem to think it was ice crystals.&nbsp; That is hard to believe with the sky so clear.&nbsp; Oh well, it was neat nonetheless.&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>Sorry, it must indeed have been clouds.&nbsp; With the quarter moon rising at that time it was brobably lighting up the bands rather eerily. That makes sense with the thin cirrus that were moving in at that time. The sun and aurora have been extremenly quiet for the last 2 days. In addition, it wopuld be far more likely to see an aurora looking north up Rt 309 than south. It is rare that we would see aurora to our south at this latitude. <br /> Posted by MeteorWayne</DIV><br /></p>

 

[MeteorWayne]

<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>I saw some pics online of what was going on with an explanation of sorts...http://www.nbcphiladelpia.com/weather/stories/Planes_Rains_or_UFOs.htmlThey seem to think it was ice crystals.&nbsp; That is hard to believe with the sky so clear.&nbsp; Oh well, it was neat nonetheless.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br />Posted by bfolk</DIV><br /><br />BTW, cirrus clouds are ice crystals. That link seems to be dead. I'll see if I can find it one their site (It's one of my favorite weather links, they have great meteoprologists!). I see what happened to the link. for some reason there's no space between html and They even though you had them on different lines. Odd. In any case, here's the clean link, and I checked that it works.</p><p>Weather Wayne</p><p>http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/weather/stories/Planes_Rains_or_UFOs.html</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Since this is a weather phenomena, it probably belongs in Earth Science, but I'll leave it here for a while.</p><p>Meteor Wayne</p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>

 

[weeman]

Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>I live in Philadelphia and went outside to look at the sky after getting a phone call from a friend.&nbsp; He said that he could see the northern lights from route 309 headed S.&nbsp; I looked and low and behold, I saw several bright, white streaks in the sky.&nbsp; I live in East Oak Lane and looked towards Broad S. and could see 2 really clearly and several other faint bands.&nbsp; I hope others on here had the chance to see this.&nbsp; I think it's the Aurora, but I have a pretty good feeling that it isn't clouds.&nbsp; Sorry for the lack of pictures.&nbsp; I'll go back out later and see if I can take a few. <br />Posted by bfolk</DIV><br /><br />I can see how you might think they were the northern lights. The northern lights often have a curtain-like shape to them,&nbsp;much like the shapes in the pictures.&nbsp;Although, from the pictures, it looks like a strange phenomenon going on with the clouds. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><strong><font color="#ff0000">Techies: We do it in the dark. </font></strong></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>"Put your hand on a stove for a minute and it seems like an hour. Sit with that special girl for an hour and it seems like a minute. That's relativity.</strong><strong>" -Albert Einstein </strong></font></p> </div>