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Merged Here comes another Aurora Borealis

The ACE spacecraft has detected a sudden impulse of an arriving CME:
M0ueFvz.png

Plasma cloud's magnetic configuration points to south (Bz component negative, the red line), and solar wind speed has been rising (yellow), and plasma density is rising (green, but the meter is broken and not always accurate).

With a geomagnetic storm likely this looks like a promising night for aurora displays!

(cloudy here in nothern Finland ATM. :()

ETA: GOES satellite magnetometer going crazy: http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/rt_plots/mag_3d.html
 
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Storm level 6. I knew that X5 was going to deliver a glancing blow to Earth.

But alas, tis daylight and cloudy here.
 
Very annoyingly, although there were sightings across Scotland last night- and viewing conditions here were excellent- I was outside from 20:30 till after 22:00 and saw absolutely nothing, except a clear starfield.
 
BBC Scotland news specifically mentioned that it was seen from a village 12km from here, but they gave no data on when. I was actually trying (without much success) to take star trail photos, so I was looking at Polaris off and on for 90 minutes 8:30 -10pm.
Lovely clear sky, but not a hint of an aurora.
 
Bump! This time fer shur!
STORM WARNING: A pair of CMEs is heading for Earth. The two solar storm clouds were launched on Sept. 9th and 10th by strong explosions in the magnetic canopy of sunspot AR2158. NOAA forecasters estimate a nearly 80% chance of polar geomagnetic storms on Sept. 12th when the first of the two CMEs arrives. Auroras are in the offing, possibly visible at mid-latitudes before the weekend.. Aurora alerts: text, voice
EARTH-DIRECTED X-FLARE AND CME: Sunspot AR2158 erupted on Sept. 10th at 17:46 UT, producing an X1.6-class solar flare. A flash of ultraviolet radiation from the explosion ionized the upper layers of Earth's atmosphere, disturbing HF radio communications for more than an hour. More importantly, the explosion hurled a CME directly toward Earth. The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory photographed the expanding cloud:​
Click to expand...
http://spaceweather.com/
 
We have a good chance here in WA State. It's forecast to be clear for the next couple nights, but fog can still develop and the peak storm could hit during the day. I will be up watching if I can stay awake. :D
 
Perfectly clear all night, storm didn't reach Seattle visibility, and now we get the 2nd sudden impulse indicating the X-flare, it's 10am! :mad:
 
Any aurora spotters tonight (timely subject)

None here, maybe a faint, unsure-like hint of a bit, but you know how vision works.

However, at least 7 meteors, 2 big, radiating from about 1/3 of the way between Cassiopeia and Polaris.
 
Lots of meteors from 9PM PST to now.

Maybe, just maybe, 2 or 3 green flashes at horizon. At least the source of whatever it was was behind some thin cirrus, not in front. :)

Nothing very cool, except for a couple of pretty nice meteors.
 
Between 9:00 and 10:00 local time here we had a small display visible. Not very often we get one here. I managed some shots, but my camera is not great for night imaging. I was right on the edge of town, on a main street, but facing towards the darker area away from town. I couldn't make out the red colors with the naked eye, but could still see them as a washed out whitish light. I clearly saw the greens in color.

This was from Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada.





















.
 
I managed to see a small display here ( Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada ) that lasted from about 9:00 till 10:00 local time. I posted some pictures in the other aurora thread.
 
Very nice. What settings were used for those?

I checked more or less hourly from 21:00 last night till 04:00 this morning. Nada. We had fog till midnight. The sky cleared after that, but not a flicker.
 
Those pics are so cool.

The G3 storm (probably still not strong enough to see through the city lights here) ended just as it got dark enough to see an aurora. :rolleyes:
 
Skeptic Ginger said:
Those pics are so cool.

The G3 storm (probably still not strong enough to see through the city lights here) ended just as it got dark enough to see an aurora. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Yep. Didn't see this thread or would have posted here.

We might, just might, maybe, possibly, have seen one or two hints. Only reason I even say that is because if it wasn't aurora, I wonder who was flashing the green light on the far side of those cirrus clouds :)

But I'd have to call it "very tenuous report". Lots of meteors, though.
 
Soapy Sam said:
... Very nice. What settings were used for those? ...
Click to expand...



15 second exposure ( some were 13 sec.), aperture F2.8, ISO 400, wide angle lens at 12 mm. On a tripod and with self timer of course. There is grainy noise and banding in the images due to my camera's sensor being poor at low light imaging ( Olympus E5, with 12-60 lens ) but I was so happy to get them that I don't mind so much.


( Don't know what I did wrong with the quote there, and not sure how to fix it. )
 
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I got up at 0130 to use the washroom. Looked out my bedroom window and saw one of the better shows I've seen since moving here, but not worth staying up for.
 
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