one day, I will understand everything you just typed.
but now i just read in awe
I just read elsewhere that aurorae in north/south poles are complementary of each other.. what is Bz ? does that mean the show is better for guys up north, if the Bz is north ?
will open the googles now.
btw - my mrs lived in northern alberta for 1 year, in 2007-2008. for what was a period of solar minimum, she saw heaps of aurorae...
Biyatch.
Quote:
Originally Posted by fringe_dweller
i'm not sure i would recommend a big drive for it .. i have the car ready, but i'm not sure what i'll do .. definitely recommend for people like Ken who live in the country to have a look now and then .. the indicators on spaceweather are interesting, the density of solar wind is growing, thats a good sign .. wind speed is still low, you would want solar wind speeds to be up around 600 km/sec or higher, Interplanetary Mag. Field indictors have jumped! but Bz is still north, and thats not good, so polarity of is wrong, we need it to switch south .. at those levels if it was south we would be in business
dont stress, this is just the beginning of solar max, should have 2 or 3 years, with maybe at least a couple of times a year of decent displays for southern mainland viewing ..
i do remember some big X class flares that were fizzes at our latitudes last solar max, due to mixture polarity of earths magnetosphere and polarity of plasma stream/CME negating chance of aurora .. i think WA might have the show better? or worse it could be during our daytime, not the first time that happened
hehe i'm no scientist or academic just can read the 'form' as an aurora punter, its really not difficult to read once you are familiar with it, from this webpage
'If the IMF points south -- a condition scientists call "southward Bz" -- then the IMF can partially cancel Earth's magnetic field at the point of contact.
"When Bz is south, that is, opposite Earth's magnetic field, the two fields link up," explains Christopher Russell, a Professor of Geophysics and Space Physics at UCLA. "You can then follow a field line from Earth directly into the solar wind" -- or from the solar wind to Earth. South-pointing Bz's open a door through which energy from the solar wind can reach Earth's atmosphere!
Southward Bz's often herald widespread auroras, triggered by solar wind gusts or coronal mass ejections that are able to inject energy into our planet's magnetosphere.'
SDO is reporting a CME hit 2012-03-08:1100 UTC (that's 2200 AEDT) accompanied with an aurora photo from northern Russia. They are saying "high latitude observers" should be on the lookout.
SDO is reporting a CME hit 2012-03-08:1100 UTC (that's 2200 AEDT) accompanied with an aurora photo from northern Russia. They are saying "high latitude observers" should be on the lookout.
All we need now is for some 'Low Latitude' reports
It was a clear night but not a thing was seen over southern NZ, as far as I'm aware. The all-sky camera didn't detect any auroral activity. Maybe tonight?
well that was a good dummy run for the real thing
I was getting suspicious when the CME took so long to get here, in my experience the faster they get here, and some were in 12 hours last max.! the better the chances, demonstrates a virileness and eagerness not these flaccid puffers .. so maybe was more of a glancing blow then that new fangled predictive modelling showed? maybe i interpreted it wrong? the good old SOHO movies sure looked more glancing blow, need that point blank bullseye factor .. i certainly chased X5s that were duds last time, good way to lose friends lol aurora chasing from southern mainland oz is NOT for the faint hearted
us in the cheap seats appreciate the input from the good seats in NZ BPO
SUBJ: IPS AURORA ALERT 0920 UT ON 09 Mar 2012 HIGH LATITUDES
ISSUED AT 0920 UT ON 09 Mar 2012 BY IPS RADIO AND SPACE SERVICES
FROM THE AUSTRALIAN SPACE FORECAST CENTRE
GEOMAGNETIC STORM IN PROGRESS. AURORA MAY BE OBSERVED
DURING LOCAL NIGHT TIME HOURS IN GOOD OBSERVING CONDITIONS
AT HIGH LATITUDES.
...
Bz is just over -ve 10 at the moment... hmm I wonder what it was on the 27th of Jan when that Alex guy captured the aurora from Flinders ?
apparently mid-latitude aurora alert, from solarham.com
It's looking very promising for tonight. It is almost total dark here. Almost time to go up the back paddock and set up the camera with Thermos of coffee, snacks, etc.
