the shizzle > news
Aurora
SA Chris:
--- Quote from: gme on May 11, 2024, 07:11:08 am ---Anyone explain
--- End quote ---
I was "fortunate" to be out with my neighbour who is a full astro geek. I was trying to take in what he was saying between filling a memory card, but the stronger the storm the further down the planet it activates the gasses in the atmosphere, so the "donut" of activity around the planet is normally restricted to poles, but in intense storms the donut moves southwards (and northwards in the southern hemisphere) so it was either to the south of us (for a while) or directly overhead. We reluctantly packed up and went home at 1, as i had to get up to take son to DoE hike, but set my camera up in time lapse video mode in the back garden, pointing straight up in the sky, and it was still intense. The stats stayed high (KP 8/9) until about 6pm, then dropped. It may have been my imagination, or something else, but I was climbing down on the coast and I swear i cloud see very faint rays in the sky with sunglasses on.
Anyway, not sure we will get another like it for a while; perfect solar storm, clear skies, still proper dark (it won't be in about a month), almost no moon and not so cold you are freezing your hands off (like the last big one on Mother's Day 2016 where I was getting hot aches, batteries were dying at a high rate and it was snowing by the time I got home).
SA Chris:
Also, never been so nervous about downloading files from a memory card ever before. Might do it one by one....