Nothern lights?

[FredC]

Br and the rest of you in the frozen north, can you all see the northern lights with all the recent sunspot activity? I heard that they could be seen in the northern UK (60 degrees north latitude) a couple of nights ago. Looked on my old globe and some of you are near 45 degrees. Apparently, there was a large solar flare that took out low frequency radio transmissions today.

[butlersrangers]

I'm in Central Florida visiting family for a while, light pollution isn't too bad, so we are getting some good views of planets and the moon, plus rocket launches and Disney fireworks!

Back home, I have too much city light from the small towns to the north. Occasionally, Northern Lights would be seen below the 45th parallel, if there wasn't so much crap light!

Our Upper Peninsula - Lake Superior shore is a great place to view the Northern Lights ... total Dark Sky!

It is remarkable how much of GB and Europe is above the 45th parallel. I guess the Gulf Stream moderates Britain's climate?

Don't tell "Brandon" about any of this. He will take some kind of brilliant Presidential Action to protect the environment from Solar sunspot cycles and light pollution.
Obviously, Texas Oil and Greenhouse Gases have something to do with spots on the Sun, solar flares, and urban light pollution.

An illumination tax, a Solar Czar, and a surface cleanup of the Sun might be in the wings.

[FredC]

You still have the gift. Pretty funny.

It has been cloudy here in the evenings, A little break in the clouds this evening and Jupiter and Venus were very close and looked like a pair of varmint eyes in a spotlight. I had seen them getting closer last week and wondered how close they would get.

The big dipper is showing in the early evening, so spring is here (92F). Around the corner in Michigan.

[butlersrangers]

FredC - Here are a couple of pictures that Michigan amateur photographers took on February 26, 2023, and posted on Facebook.
The shots were taken from the Keweenaw Peninsula, which curves way out into Lake Superior, providing a great view to the north.

[FredC]

Beautiful. Objects of interest on the ground contributes to the effect. Your night sky looks a little different, I was trying to find familiar northern constellations then realized they will be higher in the sky. With the solar flare peak happening now it should be better, but I did not take into account the approaching full moon would interfere. You all live in a different world. Sometimes different is a good thing.

[butlersrangers]

I can count with four fingers, the number of times I have seen an Aurora Borealis show.

None of them were on a scale with these recent Upper Peninsula photographs.

It is an event that is never to be taken for granted and 'Luck' is a big factor!

[FredC]

There is supposed to be a moderately high show of northern lights Friday, March 26 of this year.


https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/auro ... e-forecast
Link to the 30 minute NOAA forecast when it gets closer.

[FredC]

Copied and pasted from an internet article on "Business Insider"

"But new, more powerful, eruptions on the sun, called coronal mass ejections (CME), supercharged the solar wind to cause "a severe disturbance in Earth's magnetic field," NWS reported.

It was "a perfect storm," Alex Young, the associate director for science at NASA Goddard's Heliophysics Science Division, told Insider.

As a result, the aurora blew past the forecasts, lighting up the skies in brilliant colors as far south as Missouri, California, Wisconsin, and even Arizona."

I stuck my head out while it was still dark this morning, but it was cloudy.
It later occurred to me, you guys up in the frozen waste lands up north do not need me to give you a heads up on these things. The local weathermen give us heads up on alignment of planets and such in the normal forecasts. No reason to believe your guys don't do the same.

Speaking about being able to see a bunch of planets in a cluster they always leave out the one we are standing on. If you can see Mercury and Venus at the same time the ground in front of you is also in view.

[FredC]

Stuck my head out this morning and the sky was crystal clear, happens sometimes. I went out in the field to get away from the trees to the north. I saw a few satellites and familiar constellations, no joy on the aurora.

After my comment on the frozen waste lands of the north, please feel free to comment of the venous creatures or any of the other features of this southern waste land.

[butlersrangers]

Last week, this photo was taken in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

I don't know any details about the photographer?

My wife's cousin posted it on 'facebook'.

The lighthouse looks like the one at Escanaba.