Aurora Viewing

[markj_87]

Hi. I did a search for this but nothing really came up.<br /><br />Fairly recently I got into astronomy and I've been making an effort to see different things without the use of a telescope. I'll get a telescope eventually but for now I want to see everything of interest with the naked eye first. I now know many of the constellations, I've seen Jupiter, Mars and Venus, different moon phases (including a harvest moon), a Perseid meteor shower, iridium flares, many satellites including the ISS, and other things.<br /><br />What I want to know now is whether I can view the northern lights from my location, because this is something I really would like to see. I live in Northern England at about 54 degrees North latitude. The main reason I ask is because over the last few days I've heard about large solar flares that should cause severe geomagentic storms (and auroras), but I've seen nothing after spending quite a bit of time looking for them. On the other hand I've read about people from Arizona who saw them so surely I should have too? My area is very rural with negligible light pollution. The last couple nights have been perfectly clear, too. Can I see them from my location at all?<br /><br />Thanks in advance to anyone who contributes here.

 

[markj_87]

Thanks for that information, Eddie. I'll have another look tonight because apparently the geomagnetic storm is still ongoing. <br /><br />Just one more question: How long do aurorae tend to last? Is it possible that if I looked for them every, say half hour, I could miss them, or do they tend to last a longer time period than that?

 

[igorsboss]

Check out the space enviornment center for more information.<br /><br />http://www.sec.noaa.gov/today.html<br /><br />They also publish this auroral activity estimate page.<br /><br />http://www.sec.noaa.gov/pmap/index.html

 

[CalliArcale]

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>Just one more question: How long do aurorae tend to last? Is it possible that if I looked for them every, say half hour, I could miss them, or do they tend to last a longer time period than that?<p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br /><br />I know this isn't what you were hoping to hear, but it varies widely and is notoriously difficult to forecast. (Scientists are getting better at it, though. They have to; this has implications for telecommunications and satellite operations.) Most geomagnetic storms tend to last 12 hours or so. Unfortunately, this does mean it's possible for the entire storm to occur while you are experiencing daylight. The storm will tend to shift towards the nightside of Earth anyway, due to the effect of the solar wind, so that will offset some of what you lose due to being quite a few lines of longitude away from the geomagnetic pole.<br /><br />Right now, SpaceWeather.com says that the geomagnetic storm is still going on. There's no telling how long it will persist, but as this sparked auroras visible even in Arizona, it's worth looking if you get clear skies! According to this Auroral Activity Report, auroras were also spotted in England. That latter page also shows as-live-as-possible data from the TIROS satellite, which uses special instrumentation to image the auroral ovals even during daylight. Right at the moment I'm typing this, it's still showing stuff from much earlier today and the aurora is pretty strong. You may get lucky enough to see an aurora tonight, but check that link again after nightfall. The best time for observations is near true local midnight. (The aurora doesn't observe daylight savings time. <img src="/images/icons/tongue.gif" /> ) <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[markj_87]

Thanks for all the information and links guys. As I write this there is not a cloud in the sky and it's 8:12pm, so a little bit later I'll get outside and see what I can see. Only problem is I have to get up at 6:00am tomorrow so I can't stay out too long. ;-)<br /><br />Eddie: Yeah, it's quite a severe storm that's been going on a few days now. I believe the flare that started this was an X-17 monster on the 9th.