Amazing Auroras
The most amazing auroras I have ever seen happened last night and early this morning-- and I've seen some pretty incredible ones! They filled the entire sky, including the southern section. There were curtains and sheets covering the north, east, and west, flashes and flares to the south, and a moving nebula-type pattern happening directly overhead. The colors were mostly the "normal" pale blue and lime green, with a bit of deep red thrown in, but with a dramatic display like that, it hardly matters. :) There was also a waning crescent moon that rose while we watched, that was just perfect.
I knew there were supposed to be some, because I get email notifications (from http://www.aurorachasers.com/Adec/Subscribe/index_html). However, when I was outside earlier, they were pretty small. Coldy went to take the recycling out about 1AM, and came in reporting that we had to go back outside. So we bundled ourselves up, took a blanket to sit on, and walked partway up the hill so we could lie back and get the full horizon effect. It was utterly amazing.
For comparison purposes, after we came back in, I looked up the measurements, which turned out to be a Kp of 9 (the highest possible, I believe). For information on the various characteristics of levels of geomagnetic storms, check this site out: http://www.sec.noaa.gov/NOAAscales/index.html#GeomagneticStorms . Turns out that storms this strong only happen approximately 4 times per 11 year cycle, and given that it's often daylight, cloudy, etc., this really was the storm of the decade! :) So now I don't feel so silly for just sitting there and muttering in awe for the first half hour. :D Sleep at a reasonable hour, on the other hand, was harder to come by. ;)
There were more lights tonight, but they were more sedate when I saw them around 9, although still pretty, of course. There is supposed to be another coronal mass ejection on its way towards us, so more lights may appear. Yay!
The only regret I had was that it was 2 in the morning, and I just wanted to call everyone I knew and tell them to go outside! If anyone by chance would like to be called when they're happening (I used to be part of an aurora calling tree led by HM, but haven't talked to her in a while), let me know what times are within tolerance, as I think I'll be keeping my eyes glued upwards a lot for the next little while. :)
I knew there were supposed to be some, because I get email notifications (from http://www.aurorachasers.com/Adec/Subscribe/index_html). However, when I was outside earlier, they were pretty small. Coldy went to take the recycling out about 1AM, and came in reporting that we had to go back outside. So we bundled ourselves up, took a blanket to sit on, and walked partway up the hill so we could lie back and get the full horizon effect. It was utterly amazing.
For comparison purposes, after we came back in, I looked up the measurements, which turned out to be a Kp of 9 (the highest possible, I believe). For information on the various characteristics of levels of geomagnetic storms, check this site out: http://www.sec.noaa.gov/NOAAscales/index.html#GeomagneticStorms . Turns out that storms this strong only happen approximately 4 times per 11 year cycle, and given that it's often daylight, cloudy, etc., this really was the storm of the decade! :) So now I don't feel so silly for just sitting there and muttering in awe for the first half hour. :D Sleep at a reasonable hour, on the other hand, was harder to come by. ;)
There were more lights tonight, but they were more sedate when I saw them around 9, although still pretty, of course. There is supposed to be another coronal mass ejection on its way towards us, so more lights may appear. Yay!
The only regret I had was that it was 2 in the morning, and I just wanted to call everyone I knew and tell them to go outside! If anyone by chance would like to be called when they're happening (I used to be part of an aurora calling tree led by HM, but haven't talked to her in a while), let me know what times are within tolerance, as I think I'll be keeping my eyes glued upwards a lot for the next little while. :)