Northern Lights alert

I saw it last night, but I over slept and went out atv1:30 past the peak. There were faint red lights shifting overhead. I got the camera out and used long exposure and a band of red showed up from SE horizon all the way across the sky!

My kids took the newer laptop on vacation so right now I can only take crappy pictures off my old laptop  screen. Maybe some of you will recognize the constellations too.

Mike Haasl wrote:Any guesses about the likelihood of good lights tonight?

Christopher Weeks wrote:Seems like things are falling off fast, but I don't know how to read their stuff to know if we're in line for another thump.

At the moment the heavy SLAM of the CME impact is past, however the solar wind from it is still ongoing. Assuming no other big flares today (and with how many we have had, that's not a good assumption) the auroras will be confined to the farther north areas. BUT if we take more big flares, it will get rowdy again.

My analysis: Check the sky in case you are in range, if you are far enough north, they'll almost definitely be visible, and if we get more flares, they'll be visible farther south too.

And May Lotito: AUGH! I didn't go out that late! Last I looked was 11:00 or so, and I saw none.  :(

Seen last night, all the way down in Louisiana!

Pearl Sutton wrote:My analysis: Check the sky in case you are in range, if you are far enough north, they'll almost definitely be visible, and if we get more flares, they'll be visible farther south too.

And even if the aurora isn’t out, a comet might be!

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiecartereurope/2024/10/11/northern-lights-tonight-no-but-a-second-once-in-your-life-view-is-on/

I don't know what time that article came out, but we did take a mid M class flare about 11AM central time. It might amp the aurora up more.

Oooh, but the comet! Thank you! I knew it was there, didn't know we could see it!!
Look west 45 minutes after sunset!!

The forecast keeps saying it will be clear, but every time I look out, I see clouds - very sad! We're "green" for Northern Lights but I'm not convinced the "clearing" prediction will happen early enough.

No comet visible tonight. I looked on the net and found one place that said starting Oct 12 it would be visible, so we will try again tomorrow.

Clear skies just after sunset with no aurora and I guess the comet was already over the horizon when we started searching for it. And it's cloudy now. I'm pretty sure I see pink to the far north through the haze, so if you live north of me and it isn't cloudy, you might be able to see something right now.

I feel so lucky to see all three events this year: the solar eclipse, Northern lights and comet C/2023 A3! For people in SW Missouri, the comet will be in good visibility in the next several days. Today we have the sunset around 6:34 and I saw the comet the best from 7:24 to 7:34. It appeared higher in the sky than I thought it would be but the long tail was unmistakable!

Took pictures on 14/15/16, it's dimming so quickly! Wish I had looked at the sky at the right time on Sunday.

Watch the skies tonight!  
A couple of days ago we took a long duration X class flare that threw a CME. We will only get a little bit of the impact from that, it was not right in front of us on the sun. BUT  this morning we took another one, also long duration, it too is sending a CME to us (probably Monday) but it has also set the stage for this one to be possibly more active than it would have been without the second one.

Think of it like water, if you are looking for pretty ripply reflections on it, and start with still water, throwing a rock in will get you some pretty ripples. But if you throw a second rock in, it will affect the ripples the first one made, and make them more complex and interesting. So this CME impact, while not a serious one, is hitting an already agitated sky, and may be prettier than would be expected.

This chart comes from GOES X-ray flux NOAA website  don't forget it is in universal time, Greenwich Mean Time for us old geeks. The daylight savings time change will change your math for reading the time on that chart, today Central Time Zone (where I am) is -5 hours. I have to subtract 5 hours from whatever time it says. After it changes it will be -6, and I'll subtract 6 hours from it's time.  A website that may help you figure out your own numbers to add or subtract:  TimeBuddy World Clock / Converter

No warranty on this one, the aurora prediction chart doesn't show anything. BUT we have a solar proton storm hitting. That means the magnetosphere is already primed, even a small flare might set off pretty lights. Worth checking if it's easy for you. We haven't had any major flares lately...  Hard to say. Might have some, might not.

Possibility of northern lights in the northern areas Friday night/Saturday morning. 2 coronal mass ejections coming, how close the impacts are will decide how bright the lights are and their reach. Neither one is bad, but if they impact close together they may be bright.