More Aurora on the way tonight/tomorrow night

[ballaratdragons]

From Spaceweather: http://www.spaceweather.com/

ANOTHER CME TARGETS EARTH: Sunspot AR1429 has unleashed another strong flare, an M6-class eruption on March 9th at 0358 UT. The blast hurled a coronal mass ejection almost directly toward Earth. According to analysts at the Goddard Space Weather Lab, the CME will arrive on March 11th at 0649 UT (+/- 7 hr). NOAA forecasters say the odds of a strong geomagnetic storm at that time is 50%.

:thumbsup:

Sounds good for tonight and tomorrow night.

Also keep an eye on this site. It is a live map of the Aurora (you need to refresh about every 10 minutes as it doesn't Auto-refresh).
http://helios.swpc.noaa.gov/ovation/South.html

[stardust steve]

good heads up :thumbsup: will be watching with interest and hope

[ballaratdragons]

Dragons lost :(

Anyway, heading off now to the Clubroom to set up.

Here's hoping :)

[BPO]

Here's hoping you guys get to see something. The weather has turned here, again, so probably we'll see nothing but cloud tonight. Has the Aussie summer been as crap as ours? December-January is almost always rotten in this part of the South Island, and usually excellent the rest of the year, but so far 2012 has sucked, big time.

[stardust steve]

HI BPO. Overall it has not been too bad in Adelaide, i have been lucky enough to get some nice viewing nights in especially last New Moon where i made a homemade piggy back mount for my 500D and 50mm F1.8 nifty fifty. I was pleased with my results but keeps me wanting more:)
No signs of Aurora yet:shrug:

[mithrandir]

Sydney weather has been rubbish since November. It's not quite so bad for the solar observers. Right now its totally clear and the wind is almost dead calm. The cloud and rain move in at sunset.

[BPO]

Yep, it's intensely frustrating. We'll get a couple of perfect nights, followed by at least three nights of garbage. Just when you hope it's coming right more cloud arrives. A real shame considering the large amount of general interest in this solar event.

[ballaratdragons]

Update:

A beautiful clear night with NO Auroras :sadeyes:

I set up at 9:30pm and sat and watched (with the camera on the tripod ready to shoot), and watched, and watched.

At 3am I decided to give up.

I'm sure I saw a few Aurora using averted imagination (funny how staring at the sky makes you see things). :P

Fortunately the sky stayed absolutely clear all night, but it just wasn't the right night.

Tonight is supposed to be a good prospect but my forecast is for cloud all night. Hopefully someone else will get to see/image the Aurora. It is suppose to be better tonight.


Good luck to anyone trying :thumbsup:

[Liz]

oh, bad luck ken, was wondering how you went, Am sure you will enjoy them soon. :thumbsup:

[BPO]

So, after all that whinging like a spoilt little girl, the sky cleared and we had a beautiful night, and today is a beauty... :D

http://allskycam.com/u.php?u=438

[Liz]

Good luck :) :thumbsup:

[BPO]

Fingers crossed! :D

[BPO]

Hey, look, I was wrong...the all-sky camera did capture some images of the aurora! :)

http://www.observatory.org.nz/temp/20120309_2150_raw.JPG

http://www.observatory.org.nz/temp/20120309_2200_stack.JPG

[ballaratdragons]

Well done!

Just a pity you didn't get to see it with your eyes :)

I better check the photos I took to see if I captured anything.
I didn't notice anything on the camera's LCD screen or with my eyes :question:

[ballaratdragons]

This is indicating Aurora visible over Tasmania and Victoria :cool:
It will slide in between Tassie and Vic.

But I doubt it will be dark enough to see them :(

See Orange Arrow in attachment. It is about 1 hour from being visible, which means it probably won't be dark enough.

[BPO]

WOOHOO! Aurora again right now!

Hopefully you guys across the ditch are seeing it too!

[ballaratdragons]

Just checked, nothing yet.

I hope you are getting photos!

[stardust steve]

I am just about to head out and attempt this Polar Alignment business...and hope to catch an Aurora:) Good luck every one and try and get some pics BPO:thumbsup:

[aijii]

argh was in phillip island last night, didn't check the forums.

poop.

and just missed this - the thin slice it past us now :(

balls.

what i dont get - Bz is extremely North ?

argh.. edit:

it Was 20.9

its now -10!

[ballaratdragons]

Bz has just headed south again, and there is a large mass of Aurora heading this way. May be a bit too south for me but I am at the club site with camera ready :thumbsup: