Aurora Alert!

JB80 (Jarrod) · #1 14-07-2012, 06:47 AM

Quote:

REVISED FORECAST: The CME launched toward Earth by yesterday's X-flare is moving faster than originally thought. Analysts at the Goddard Space Weather Lab have revised their forecast accordingly, advancing the cloud's expected arrival time to 09:17 UT (5:17 am EDT) on Saturday, July 14th. Weekend auroras are likely.

http://www.spaceweather.com/

http://helios.swpc.noaa.gov/ovation/South.html

Keep an eye on the sky and the aurora maps if you are in an area prone to seeing aurora.
This has the potential to be quite a good one too.

CapturingTheNight (Greg) · #2 14-07-2012, 08:04 AM

Thanks for the heads up. I first heard about this last night, and I have been debating with myself ever since if I should go for a road trip to chase clear skies and a more southerly area or not.....

colinmlegg (Colin) · #3 14-07-2012, 08:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by obsidianphotos

Thanks for the heads up. I first heard about this last night, and I have been debating with myself ever since if I should go for a road trip to chase clear skies and a more southerly area or not.....

DO IT!!!

I'm on the wrong side of the Earth (Chile)

rogerg (Roger) · #4 14-07-2012, 08:13 PM

All very quite on the Aurora front so far ... quite before the storm? or nothing going to eventuate? Wait and see...

naskies (Dave) · #5 14-07-2012, 08:31 PM

An aurora combined with tomorrow morning's conjunction would make for a spectacular photo...

JB80 (Jarrod) · #6 15-07-2012, 03:07 AM

Still waiting.
The latest update was this....

Quote:

STILL WAITING FOR THE CME: The CME launched toward Earth by the July 12th X-flare has not yet arrived. However, we are still within the forecast window set by analysts at the Goddard Space Weather Lab. The cloud should hit at 09:17 UT plus or minus 7 hours on Saturday, July 14th. Weekend auroras are likely.

I love the + or - 7 hours bit.

Another site I keep an eye on is this one which is a magnetometer.
http://aurorawatch.lancs.ac.uk/
Sure it's a UK link but it gives a good indication if any activity has started.

JB80 (Jarrod) · #7 15-07-2012, 04:27 AM

Looks like it has just started to hit now.

rogerg (Roger) · #8 15-07-2012, 10:17 AM

Looks like KP only reached 5, so glad I didn't stay up for it in the end. I stayed up until 10:30pm when KP was still going between zero and one but gave up after that.

Haven't seen any pics yet but sure they will pop up from the southern extreme's..

colinmlegg (Colin) · #9 15-07-2012, 10:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rogerg

All very quite on the Aurora front so far ... quite before the storm? or nothing going to eventuate? Wait and see...

Roger, in your experience are KP 5 aurora visible from Albany? I've yet to see anything from WA...either due to cloud or being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

rogerg (Roger) · #10 15-07-2012, 10:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by colinmlegg

Roger, in your experience are KP 5 aurora visible from Albany? I've yet to see anything from WA...either due to cloud or being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I think Kp 5 would show something at Albany. I have had one time where Kp 5 showed something in Perth, it was very low on the south.

Roger.

MrB (Simon) · #11 15-07-2012, 01:03 PM

I think the Kp was about 5 for the June 12th Aurorae that I saw from Nannup.

BPO · #12 15-07-2012, 05:46 PM

The aurora display going off right now above southern NZ is the brightest I've ever seen it.

CapturingTheNight (Greg) · #13 15-07-2012, 06:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by colinmlegg

DO IT!!!

I'm on the wrong side of the Earth (Chile)

I did, but failed

I ended up in the Grampians National Park with a killer location lined up but the clouds that were predicted to clear by the time I got there, did not and in fact even got worse. Between the rain and even sleet I managed one quick shot in a small cloud break from the carpark of the lookout I had in mind. Green colour clearly visable but hard to make out size and detail due to all the clouds. By the time I had driven further north to find clearer skies it was all over. So I can only report that the display was visable from at least the latitude of the Grampians. Oh well. Bring on Tasmania next month....

CapturingTheNight (Greg) · #14 15-07-2012, 06:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BPO

The aurora display going off right now above southern NZ is the brightest I've ever seen it.

So jealous right now.....

JB80 (Jarrod) · #15 15-07-2012, 07:09 PM

It's up to KP 6 Now.
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/rt_plots/kp_3d.html

Lucky people who get to see it.
*Jealous*

Tinderboxsky (Steve) · #16 15-07-2012, 07:33 PM

The aurora is putting on a very bright display here at Tinderbox, just south of Hobart.

Steve.

Tinderboxsky (Steve) · #17 15-07-2012, 10:14 PM

Have just come in from two hours of being transfixed by the best aurora I have ever seen. A rain front threatened to spoil the show but it blew over and left clear dark skies here at Tinderbox.
There has been a continuous bright glow of varying intensity across the southern sky from east-south-east right around to west-south-west the glow fading out at about 30% altitude. It has been enough to cat faint shadows. On top of this there has been a continuing varied display of beams, curtains, halos and bright knots of light. Some of the beams have been visible at an altitude of approx 70% with averted vision The brighter displays have been clearly reflected in the distant ocean.

Hope others have seen the show tonight.

Steve

DavidU (Dave) · #18 15-07-2012, 10:18 PM

Awesome !

ZeroID (Brent) · #19 16-07-2012, 10:58 AM

Video'd from mid sith island (Darfeild) last night and in the NZ Herald site thsi morning. Looked awesome. Meanwhile in Auckland we had solid cloud and rain. I'm too far north anyway.