UKBouldering.com
the shizzle => news => Topic started by: SA Chris on January 23, 2012, 02:30:32 pm
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Worth a look if you are somewhere without too much light pollution?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-16678405 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-16678405)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16681732 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16681732)
Clear up here, not sleeping much tonight.
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in hindsight, should probably be in shooting the shit as most people have no interest in this. Feel free to move it. Sorry.
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I live in a very low light pollution area up north and sat outside freezing my bollocks off last night around 11 and saw nothing.
Stuck in Sheffield now so no chance.
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Does anyone have any experience of viewing them? It's a new moon, which is good, and need to try and avoid light pollution, but currently debating if getting to the Moray Coast is better than getting up high, and hiking to the top of Clach na Beinn or something.
Is our friendly local astrophysicist in the country?
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I live in a very low light pollution area up north and sat outside freezing my bollocks off last night around 11 and saw nothing.
But it's not proper north though Gavin.
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Does anyone have any experience of viewing them?
Nope. 14 days in Greenland, 10 of them ski touring with zero light pollution and it was overcast every night.
I'm imagining South Manchester isn't going to be the best viewing spot.........
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I was just wondering what it would be like up on darwen moor :-\... forecast is clear till midnight!?
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Was camping out one night in Glendalough, Wicklow and saw it. Was subtle enough, a fading in and out of various colours. Fantastic and very fortunate to see it.
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I was just wondering what it would be like up on darwen moor :-\... forecast is clear till midnight!?
I've seen the aurora in Finland, and it was awesome, I would have thought Darwen moor is a little far south though, and I was up there a couple of weeks ago at dusk, I was surprised at the amount of light pollution from darwen itself...
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The activity in the pics from the BBC site was linked to an eruption from the Sun on the 22nd. It has all gone much quieter now.
There was another eruption at about 4 this morning. It looks like it is headed a bit to the north of Earth but may well clip us and lead to more auroral activity on the night of the 24th/25th.
Probably the best resource for aurorae in the UK is run by Lancaster University: http://aurorawatch.lancs.ac.uk/ (http://aurorawatch.lancs.ac.uk/) they have a twitter feed and will even (it appears) send txt alerts to your mobile.
http://www.spaceweather.com/ (http://www.spaceweather.com/) is also useful.
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I'm subscribed and got no alerts, text email or otherwise.
Thanks for other info though. Worth a shot if nothing else a nice night for stargazing.
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I spent months (5-6) in Greenland.
Didn't see it...
Spent half a year in Canada (Nova Scotia+ Newfy+Labrador).
Didn't see it...
Spent 9 months in Antarctica.
Didn't see it...
Never seen it...
I think it's a myth the world has generated,
to wind me up...
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I'm subscribed and got no alerts, text email or otherwise.
It might be worth emailing them and asking why no alerts were issued; I would think they'd be keen to improve their system. [I'm not affiliated to the lancs department but I used to be a space physicist]
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I have done before, but got no reply. Will try again.
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Working in Dundee this week so will keep an eye out!
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I was surprised at the amount of light pollution from darwen itself...
torched cars?
You can get away from it a bit if you head over the back past tockholes, but yes think in general be very lucky.
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I was surprised at the amount of light pollution from darwen itself...
torched cars?
:lol:
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I live in a very low light pollution area up north and sat outside freezing my bollocks off last night around 11 and saw nothing.
But it's not proper north though Gavin.
Guardian have a snap from Holy Island in Northumberland (http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/gallery/2012/jan/23/space-northernlights#/), which is a fair way south.
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Does anyone have any experience of viewing them?
When in Iceland I stepped outside my tent for a pee in the middle of the night and chanced to look up. None of the slides i took on my basic compact camera came out though :(
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Probably the best resource for aurorae in the UK is run by Lancaster University
I lived in Lancaster for three years and never even saw a hint of the Aurora.
What a gip.
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I've lived in Hull for 7 years and never seen Uranus either Andy....
(someone had to make that joke..)
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Ah, but I don't advertise my anus as being readily available for viewings in Hull.
only Newcastle, Sunderland and Sheffield
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Ah, but I don't advertise my anus as being readily available for viewings in Hull.
only Newcastle, Sunderland and Sheffield
Maybe you could have a subscriber text alert service...?
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Must have played footy at the Aurora sports club dozens of times and the only time I saw Lights in the sky was after a clash of heads. The Northern general was depressing that night.
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Does anyone have any experience of viewing them?
In Glencoe in the freakishly cold winter of '81/'82. Low budget Scottish black & white version though - no colours.
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I've seen them
Aviemore, March '91. I thought it was some car headlights shining into the sky at first. Greenish beams scanning from L to R with a constant green tinge just above the horizon.
Saw them again whilst in The 'Gorms in early '94, but very faint
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Does anyone have any experience of viewing them?
In Glencoe in the freakishly cold winter of '81/'82. Low budget Scottish black & white version though - no colours.
Yeah, that's what we saw last night. Hiked up Clach na beinn (gaelic for "hill that looks like a wart" probably). Got to the top about 11:30 and it was quite cloudy to the North, so we just took pics of the city lights stars etc, then about 1 pm some parallel white lines appeared quite high above Aberdeen and waved around for about 10 minutes before disappearing. Still pretty cool and worth the effort as it was an amazing night. Could do with some kip now though!
Adam if you fancy driving up to Aberdeen for a bouldering session at Transition tomorrow night give us a shout.
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That would be 1 am obv.
Any experts got a view on there being anything worthwhile later in the week? Thursday is looking clear.
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I saw them in Sheffield!! in about '97/8. Well I say I saw them, I saw something that looked exactly the same as all the picutres/vidoes I've seen of the Aurora, it may well have been some other wonder of the natural world :shrug:
Anyway it was in Sheffield (Crookes to be precise) and I just luckily went outside for some random reason and glanced up. Didn't last long but was very clear. Surely others here must have lived in Sheffield at the time and seen it, I have a notional idea that it might have been mentioned in the local press.
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A quick search brings up this thread:
http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/archive/index.php/t-464594.html (http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/archive/index.php/t-464594.html)
Which appears to confirm my viewing, although my dates might have been a year or so out.
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Tick. Reykjavik 2005 I think :P
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The CME (big eruption from the Sun) hit at about 15:00 today.
I'd say there was a pretty good chance of geomagnetic storms overnight.
Whether that will translate into there being aurorae to see at a given location, I can't say.
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Sadly forecast tonight is for overcast and rainy up here. I've got camera gear with me though, and will sack of wall session and head to a beach away from light pollution if there is any chance of it clearing. Apparently there was some visible from Deeside yesterday when the clouds cleared briefly last night. Any idea how long it will last?
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Any idea how long it will last?
Typically a geomagnetic storm might last 2-10 hours with the aurorae fluctuating in brightness within that. Unfortunately, yesterday's CME triggered activity has been and gone. The word from the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Centre is that the, "aurora watch is cancelled for all but the highest latitudes around the Arctic Circle".
Here (http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/pmap/gif/pmapN.gif (http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/pmap/gif/pmapN.gif)) is an image that is updated regularly. The orange oval gives a pretty good indication of the likely extent of the aurora. There is currently a bit of activity below 60deg lat over Canada. I wouldn't bet on much happening tonight at Aberdeen-like latitudes.
There may well be another CME in the next few days and they'll almost certainly become more frequent as we move towards solar maximum.
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Nice one. Keep watching the skies!
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Any idea how long it will last?
Typically a geomagnetic storm might last 2-10 hours with the aurorae fluctuating in brightness within that. Unfortunately, yesterday's CME triggered activity has been and gone. The word from the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Centre is that the, "aurora watch is cancelled for all but the highest latitudes around the Arctic Circle".
Here (http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/pmap/gif/pmapN.gif (http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/pmap/gif/pmapN.gif)) is an image that is updated regularly. The orange oval gives a pretty good indication of the likely extent of the aurora. There is currently a bit of activity below 60deg lat over Canada. I wouldn't bet on much happening tonight at Aberdeen-like latitudes.
There may well be another CME in the next few days and they'll almost certainly become more frequent as we move towards solar maximum.
Thats a great post. Thanks.
But, you have missed an excellent opportunity to Sandbag Chris and get him to spend a cold night out in a tent looking for something that wasnt going to be there ;)
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It's Ok, I could have probably trapped a couple of young haggis as they are largely nocturnal.
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(http://www.muddymess.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/DNW_5375-500x332.jpg)
Probably the best shot we got last week, see greenish bit bottom left, which was barely visible.
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Can see it in Northumberland at Kielder observatory apparently, they do Aurora evenings
http://www.kielderobservatory.org/ (http://www.kielderobservatory.org/)
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Another CME erupted a day or so ago. May hit us at a glancing angle. The interplanetary magnetic field is also favourable (pointing southward) for a magnetic storm.
Looks like there may well be too much cloud for decent aurorae over northern Scotland tonight though.
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Saw them driving up to Glencoe about 5 winters back. Stopped on Rannoch Moor briefly. It looked like wavy green fabric, pretty awesome.
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Big solar storm (http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/mar/07/massive-solar-storm-heading-earth) too late for last night, but there may be some to light up the sky further north tonight.
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Big solar storm (http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/mar/07/massive-solar-storm-heading-earth) too late for last night, but there may be some to light up the sky further north tonight.
6am to 10am today apparently, ther may e ome dis up ion to dig al c mm nicati ns
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(almost) full moon though :(
Our friendly local astrophysicist gave me a heads up last night, but moon didn't help, plus we are the wrong side of Aberdeen so suffer with light pollution. Maybe tonight?
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Supposed to affect us until Friday eve. Clear in Amsterdam today, so hopeful, if a little far south...
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I'm in Cardiff Fri and Sat night so doubt I will see much.
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The British Geological Survey have issued an aurora alert (http://t.co/8hx5KQpr (http://t.co/8hx5KQpr)) with their twitter feed (https://twitter.com/# (https://twitter.com/#)!/BGSspaceWeather) reckoning that the best chance will be tonight (Thursday). Looks like it'll be pretty cloudy here in Edinburgh but with patchy clouds around Aberdeen.
The latest auroral oval is looking pretty far north and fairly puny just now. This should change as the storm loads energy into the Earth's magnetic field over the next few hours.
@SA Chris the BGS also do a 'sign up for alerts' service. They might be more communicative than the aurorawatch lot.
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There is a satellite called ACE that is sitting upstream of us. It is not sampling the magnetic field from well inside the big explosion. At the moment, the field up in space is not pointing in a direction that is likely to give us a major geomagnetic storm.
Upstream conditions might change though.
Someone has built a twitter sourced aurora visibility map:
If you tweet #aurora,1st half of postcode, & rate visibility/10, you will contribute to the live map at http://t.co/oqAbFgue (http://t.co/oqAbFgue)
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was very lucky to be in Shetland over the weekend with work and even more lucky to go to Fair Isle, just when I thought I couldn't get any luckier, 2 nights of spectacular showings, green glowing skies, despite the bright moon :)
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I was on a flight over th pole to Vancouver a few years back. Abrilliant aurora was visible out of the right hand side of the plane... I was sat on the left. I tried to get to a R/H window but it was mayhem, I went back to my seat and watched Harry Potter... Again :'(
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was very lucky to be in Shetland over the weekend with work and even more lucky to go to Fair Isle, just when I thought I couldn't get any luckier, 2 nights of spectacular showings, green glowing skies, despite the bright moon :)
Get any pics? post 'em up if you did (http://ukbouldering.com/wiki/index.php/HowTo_Embed_Pictures_to_UKBouldering)
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/9035300/Best-way-to-see-the-Northern-Lights-even-in-south-of-England.html (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/9035300/Best-way-to-see-the-Northern-Lights-even-in-south-of-England.html)
Forecast to be overcast here :(
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/9035300/Best-way-to-see-the-Northern-Lights-even-in-south-of-England.html (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/9035300/Best-way-to-see-the-Northern-Lights-even-in-south-of-England.html)
Forecast to be overcast here :(
It seems like that article is from January. Whilst there are a few active regions on the Sun at the moment there have not been any really big flares or Coronal Mass Ejections (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronal_mass_ejection) obviously heading for us.
The British Geological Survey (https://twitter.com/BGSspaceWeather) tweet a daily forecast during the week.
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Cock, looked at date on main page, not date of article, cheers.
And thanks for the link.
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Nothing to get excited about just yet, but...
There is a new active sunspot region rotating round to face Earth. Despite letting off some big solar flares in last few days, nothing much is headed towards us at the moment.
However, if the active region keeps flaring the way it is now, it may well fling a big enough chunk of the sun's atmosphere at us to cause aurorae at medium-high latitudes towards the end of the week.
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Cheers. Will keep watch, I think a night on the Moray Coast might be good bet if anything happens?
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Between needing a coronal mass ejection to come in the right direction, a clear night down here and only really knowing how intense the magnetic storm is likely to be an hour or so before it hits us... i wouldn't hold your breath for much at 57.7 deg N.
It is worth keeping an eye on BGSspaceWeather (https://twitter.com/BGSspaceWeather) and SpaceWeather.com (http://www.spaceweather.com/) to see if anything is heading our way. If something does go off this is the best aurora forecasting model (http://helios.swpc.noaa.gov/ovation/index.html) i know of.
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Heading up to Hoy at the end of this week/start next so will have to keep a look out. Never seen it before...
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Quite a lot of activity last night, Coronal Mass Ejection was faster and stronger than predicted. Things have slackened off for the moment but we may get more in the UK (esp northern Scotland) tonight.
Look for the green band heading south in this forecast (http://helios.swpc.noaa.gov/ovation/) and the red blobs in this one (http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/pmap/gif/pmapN.gif).
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http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weather/forecast/aberdeen-youth-hostel#?tab=fiveDay (http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weather/forecast/aberdeen-youth-hostel#?tab=fiveDay)
Arsebiscotti
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The Sun is pretty active at the moment. There have been quite a few decent sized solar flares (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_flare) in the last few of days. Some have launched big chunks of the solar atmosphere (Coronal Mass Ejections (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronal_mass_ejection)) which are heading our way.
Magnetic storm forecasting is a bit of a dark art but there is a fair chance of some activity visible from Northern Scotland. Glancing strikes from several, partially merged, CMEs are expected around midnight (GMT) tonight. And as the Sun is still flaring we may see more activity on earth in a few days (it take an average CME about 3 days to arrive at Earth after leaving the Sun).
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Arsing weather.
Thanks for the updates though, much appreciated.
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http://earthsky.org/space/sun-unleashes-x-flare (http://earthsky.org/space/sun-unleashes-x-flare)
Might even be clear here tomorrow.
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There has been some significant solar activity. Best chance for aurora spotting from Scotland for a while tomorrow night.
British Geological Survey's update here. (http://www.geomag.bgs.ac.uk/data_service/space_weather/alerts/alert_2014-01-08.html)
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No indications given as to when tomorrow night? I guess after moon sets at about 1 am? Although it's first quarter, so won't be too bad anyway. Currently looking at forecasts to see how far north of Aberdeen I can go without hitting cloud cover. Guess it might be looking at satellite images tomorrow night, and going from there.
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Plenty of indications but all based on lots and lots of assumptions (guesses) about what the CME is ploughing into.
I've seen arrival times varying from 2am tomorrow to 9am and any one prediction is normally +- 6hrs at least.
There should be some activity for a few hours after arrival. Then potentially more for many hours later if the magnetic field inside the beast is pointing the right way.
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Well it was clear last night, got up early this morning and it was cloudy :( Went back to bed.
Hopefully better luck tonight.
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Mate happened to be on holiday near Reykjafik this week, according to his tour guide the aurora were about the best they'd ever seen them.
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Whilst there were some decent aurora sightings (http://www.spaceweatherlive.com/community/topic/576-active-region-1944/page-2#entry6146)last night.
They were only from really quite far north.
I think Brian Cox, on stargazing live, may have encouraged people to go outside at midnight last night.
If he did, he was wrong. The CME did not arrive last night, almost nobody was predicting it would.
It still hasn't arrived yet and it is now later than most predictions.
Before heading out I'd check if the the CME has arrived. Look for the a sudden step in the white wiggly line in the top panel of this this plot (http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/ace/Mag_swe_24h.gif). Even better if the red line in the same panel drops below -10.
The actual geomagnetic effects are variable. If the most recent bars (the ones on the left) of this chart (http://www.geomag.bgs.ac.uk/education/current_activity.html) turn red, there is a pretty good chance of seeing something from Scotland. I'd reckon on Aberdeen having a chance if there were lots of orange bars close together and nearly at the red level.
edited 15:31 to remove excess whitespace
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In the second link, isn't it the bars on the right? They have today's date.
Thanks for the info.
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Yep, sorry im an idiot, the ones on the right tell you what's going on now
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Cool. There's a step in the white but not much else
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The step is pretty small. Looks like a pretty weak impact. And the magnetic field is not pointing the right way (red line above 0). Think you'd be lucky to see much at Aberdonian latitudes. Still some chance if the systems underlying the data the bar chart play nice.
Seems Much much weaker than the pics of the thing leaving the Sun suggested.
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I'm going to chance it anyway, just loading van to drive north and doss. Even if there's no aurora it will be a nice night for taking photos and maybe get in for a surf at first light
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Not a sausage. Amazing night to be out though, walked to Slaine's Castle, but a bit too spooky so just walked on the coast. Amazing stars, and a great sunrise. Not much waves either.
Thanks agian for all the pointers.
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Did anyone see anything last night? I had no idea it was happening until I saw some amazing pictures this morning. It was even spotted in Norfolk. I'm not sure if there is any chance of more tonight but will be keeping an eye on the aurora watch website.
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You've let me down UKB aurora thread, you've let me down.
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I only just liked the aurora watch facebook page and they had loads of updates going out yesterday. They also do email alerts.
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Amazing here. Pics on my facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/gavin.ellis.58/media_set?set=a.527340127380603.1073741831.100003138608507&type=1 (https://www.facebook.com/gavin.ellis.58/media_set?set=a.527340127380603.1073741831.100003138608507&type=1)
I have seen it before but not like last night. These are taken from my house.
I have not taken pictures in the dark like this before and have failed to get focus. It also seamed very hard to focus on pretty much a black sky so did it on manual.
As with these type of things it was all a bit rushed and i could find my remote trigger so had to stand with my finger on the trigger with the camera on bulb setting, i guess this accounts for the blur. A bit more prep and i could get it better i guess, shame it wont be like that again for 20 years or so.
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(I YYFYed!)
I screwed up focussing initially as well, newfangled lenses without distance markings; I had it turned the wrong way! Then got a few OK shots then battery started going just when I was geting exposure times sorted. We're just south of Aberdeen, so expected to get screwed by light pollution, but it was still quite a show! I went to bed for a bit, got up at 3, but it was all over by then.
So fortunate with conditions; big CME, cloudless, moonless and long winter nights.
All pics are RAW images will try process tonight and post some up.
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Went out to Stanage about 11 last night and very little to see with the naked eye. Long exposure camera shots show pink and green banding which could be Aurora or Huddersfield smog. Obviously I'd like to think it was the former but it wasn't up to the stuff from further north.
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nnfn loads of boring life stuff got in the way and couldn't get out until it was over
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There's shots on facebook of it over the Brecon beacons!
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From Mark Savage (in Northumberland)....
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BhjhtfrCQAAqh-c.jpg:large)
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Long exposure camera shots show pink and green banding which could be Aurora or Huddersfield smog. Obviously I'd like to think it was the former but it wasn't up to the stuff from further north.
Probably was Aurora, it wouldn't be as good as further north where you are though. Apparently could be seen from as far south as Norfolk coast.
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I went to do a timelapse last night as the skies were clear near Penrith. I left my tripod at home so left it on the forest floor. I'm gutted as I never saw them but I'm made up with the shots I got. If I'd have known I'd have stayed out all night. :slap:
Northern Lights Timelapse on Vimeo (http://vimeo.com/87894952)
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Those are brilliant Andy. Fwiw I went out at two for a couple of hours but got nothing more. Main show was all over by midnight apparently. Aurora Buddy is a great app for checking
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Best of my weak efforts. I was caught napping - wrong place south of Aberdeen!
(https://scontent-a-ams.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/t1.0-9/1456063_10151949747676087_712012646_n.jpg)
(https://scontent-b-ams.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/t1/1912430_10151949747701087_1317537299_n.jpg)
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In case anyone is not aware there is a free email Aurora alerting service from Lancaster Uni
http://aurorawatch.lancs.ac.uk/alerts (http://aurorawatch.lancs.ac.uk/alerts)
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They do it view twitter too. and as I said Aurora Buddy is a good free app.
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Sorry just realised this was posted earlier in the thread, should have read it from the start... DOH!
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I only have a Blackberry Chris, deffo not an app friendly phone sadly
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Sucks to be yoohoo :)
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Slightly cheating, but 5 flights, 4 nights, 3 days, 2 recce's and 1 clear night....
These were from a recent trip to Tromsø in Norway. In fact THE night before the aurora dropped down over the UK. Boy, I would have been well miffed to have gone that far north to see them only to have failed and then find out I could have seen them from my own back garden :o :o
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7417/12880245925_a2e64ef8f7_z.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/32044606@N03/12880245925/)
Tromsø Aurora (http://www.flickr.com/photos/32044606@N03/12880245925/#) by The Trad. (http://www.flickr.com/people/32044606@N03/), on Flickr
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3701/12881184393_4c902ca453_z.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/32044606@N03/12881184393/)
Tromsø Aurora (http://www.flickr.com/photos/32044606@N03/12881184393/#) by The Trad. (http://www.flickr.com/people/32044606@N03/), on Flickr
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3750/12879137705_c79227046f_z.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/32044606@N03/12879137705/)
Tromsø Aurora (http://www.flickr.com/photos/32044606@N03/12879137705/#) by The Trad. (http://www.flickr.com/people/32044606@N03/), on Flickr
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Great pics. Was it the purpose of the trip, or were you there for something else? I've got Lapland skiing planned for some point in the near future to get some riding combined with aurora spotting.
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Was it the purpose of the trip....
It was primarily, that and seeing the northern part of a country I'd visited before but during summer. It's like Scotland, only on acid!
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some chance of aurora tonight
see http://www.geomag.bgs.ac.uk/data_service/space_weather/alerts/alert_2014-04-04.html (http://www.geomag.bgs.ac.uk/data_service/space_weather/alerts/alert_2014-04-04.html)
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Seems Scotland is wall to wall cloud, couple of glimpses here and there :( Aurora Research Scotland on FB is good for tracking activity.
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http://spaceweather.com/ (http://spaceweather.com/)
2 big CMEs, size of the one in Feb. Sadly weather is forecast to be shit, and moon is full :( If it's Feb size it might be OK even with the moon. Clouid is a problem though.
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you mean iCloud
(fat handed twat)
;)
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Only fat fingered I'll have you know. If I was fat handed I'd be half OK at jamming.
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Display last night in Kirkwall according to my kids (first since they moved up there).
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Yup. Cloudy further South though. I sat freezing my fingers off at Loch Lomond, getting photos of moving clouds. Those in the know reckon there's an enormous sunspot right now which might just deliver a decent CME (make it Saturday night please!)
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Looks like something might be in store for us tonight. Clear skies in Yorkshire if it gets this far south
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For those of you who know Ollie Wright he's out in the Arctic photographing the lights. Some proper amazing shots on his facebook, might make up for the misty sky at the moment. https://www.facebook.com/oliver.wright.5245?fref=nf (https://www.facebook.com/oliver.wright.5245?fref=nf)
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Also posts some of them on Flickr (https://www.flickr.com/photos/19083292@N00/)
(https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8667/16212679044_488311e943_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/qGEdD3)
The Ice Cave, an Aurora, a Shooting Star and the Andromeda Galaxy (https://flic.kr/p/qGEdD3) by Oliver C Wright (https://www.flickr.com/people/19083292@N00/), on Flickr
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7564/16090790702_11dcb5efa0_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/qvTvtU)
The Scream or Raiders of the last Ark? (https://flic.kr/p/qvTvtU) by Oliver C Wright (https://www.flickr.com/people/19083292@N00/), on Flickr
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7578/15996144176_26d14157e4_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/qnwqnf)
Green Ice is Nice (https://flic.kr/p/qnwqnf) by Oliver C Wright (https://www.flickr.com/people/19083292@N00/), on Flickr
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All his photography is amazing! His icicle photos are next level.
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possibly useful links for those with a chance of clear skies
Current global conditions (http://geomag.bgs.ac.uk/data_service/space_weather/Global_activity_now.html)
UK conditions (http://geomag.bgs.ac.uk/data_service/space_weather/current_conditions.html) more wiggles = better chance.
twitter social app (http://mapapps2.bgs.ac.uk/GeoSocial_Aurora/index.html) including UK conditions, tweets and cloud cover for those with a twitter login
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Some sightings in the Peak last night https://www.tomhodgson.co.uk/photo-of-the-day/northern-lights-the-aurora-borealis-in-derbyshire/ (https://www.tomhodgson.co.uk/photo-of-the-day/northern-lights-the-aurora-borealis-in-derbyshire/)
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When the mist cleared it was really clear, however despite getting excited about different glow to the North I realized it was just the flood lights from Notts County. Really must drive somewhere dark and quiet to see this one day.
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We had cloud and fog :( Great sightings from Cummingston and Lewis.
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Some green curtains were briefly visible in long exposures from Stanage - I couldn't see anything with the naked eye. Judging by the pic above I maybe went home too early, nothing worth posting. The mist was really picking up the light from Sheffield and Manchester - several of the photos I've seen look a lot like the light pollution. Either I don't know what I'm looking at or folk are shopping the orange to pink, or somehow filtering it out.
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It was cloudy here last night so no show.
I always find the pictures posted very miss leading as, in my limited experience, what you see with the naked eye is pretty underwhelming but the media never tell people that the images they show are due to long exposure shots. I have only ever seen them from England and Scotland and its never been that impressive until i have looked at the photos.
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Best view I've had was driving north up the A1 about ten years back. Green columns turning to red, clearly visible. South of Scotch corner too so not super dark.
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I don't think it's just to do with long exposures, also that a sensor is capable of discerning colour a lot better than the human eye in low light conditions. The one last Feb had colours visible to the eye, and that was from our house, with Aberdeen light pollution to the north. Was unusually good conditions; KP 7, cloudless skies and no moon. Last night the KP was at 8 for a while, moon is just new, but was really cloudy and foggy for most of NE Scotland. Might have seen something up on the Moray coast, but that was hit an d miss, plus I was knackered having driven back from Edinburgh late the night before. And having stopped to get pics of Forth Rail Bridge, and Third crossing being built.
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How did they manage to build the Forth crossing before the third?
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No that was the firth. Fella had a lisp apparently.
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For those of you who know Ollie Wright he's out in the Arctic photographing the lights. Some proper amazing shots on his facebook, might make up for the misty sky at the moment. https://www.facebook.com/oliver.wright.5245?fref=nf (https://www.facebook.com/oliver.wright.5245?fref=nf)
All his photography is amazing! His icicle photos are next level.
He's put some from last night up on Facebook, they're incredible!
No that was the firth. Fella had a lisp apparently.
Ba-boom tish.
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Some green curtains were briefly visible in long exposures from Stanage - I couldn't see anything with the naked eye. Either I don't know what I'm looking at or folk are shopping the orange to pink, or somehow filtering it out.
I don't think it's just to do with long exposures, also that a sensor is capable of discerning colour a lot better than the human eye in low light conditions.
Yes, I imagine a lot of people who've seen photos of the aurora are quite disappointed when they get to see it for real. I'm not a fan of the long exposures that have been pulled out a lot in post: if the snow looks white in the picture its too much. Remember these photos where taken in the pitch back!
With this below I tried not to pull it out too much so its a bit more naturalistic because that is what I wanted. Not to devalue the photos like that of Oliver Wright, its art, it doesn't have to be real.
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AHSeiv62q3k/VMjvZ7w_7QI/AAAAAAAAAKg/ZiE1o-itQeQ/s1600/IMG_0477-2.jpg)
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Thats much more like what you see with your eye. When its really good you can see the green and pinks with your eye but not to the extent you get in photos.
I am lucky enough to live in an area with very little light pollution and you can see it a lot, but most of the time it looks like a slight light on the horizon, as if there is a town over the back of a hill.
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Can anybody recommend a spot within an hour or two of Manchester to go out tonight?
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Can anybody recommend a spot within an hour or two of Manchester to go out tonight?
http://www.darkskydiscovery.org.uk/int_dark_sky_places.html (http://www.darkskydiscovery.org.uk/int_dark_sky_places.html)
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Cheers. What do UKB-ers reckon the likelihood is of seeing Aurora in the Peak tonight, given the forecast for cloud?
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Surely you just answered your own question? Keep an eye on the Aurora Watch UK App, or Aurora Notifier (although this needs a bit of interpretation) and see if you are lucky with a break in the clouds. Given last night was supposed to be the peak of activity, I think your chances aren't great though.
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True. Friends have bailed, and it turns out that I was looking at Aurorawatch 24 hours in the past. I was feeling optimistic, seeing last night's big spike and thinking it was a prediction!
:wall:
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looks like we could be heading for a decent sized geomagnetic storm:
Current activity:
http://www.geomag.bgs.ac.uk/data_service/space_weather/Global_activity_now.html
background:
http://us5.campaign-archive2.com/?u=f5af5daa8514a1b71c00e5cf6&id=408ea038d9&e=82c843abec
too bad it looks mostly cloudy and the skies are midsummer-light
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Yep, I looked out optimistically a couple of times last night, but horizon to horizon heavy cloud, and light drizzle put me off. Bad timing.
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Heavy cloud in Aberdeen? :ras:
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Yeah, Imagine my surprise.
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So, probably not that visible from Scotland, but check this shit out
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/jul/29/astronomers-find-aurora-a-million-times-brighter-than-the-northern-lights
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Three cheers for Littlefield. Very good!
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Nice one Stu!
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Nice, what's the meaning of "it's the same size as Jupiter but 80 times more massive"? Dense?
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Yes dense, it's dense.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Having your paper in Nature is well jackson!
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Nature - the international journal of retractions (http://www.nature.com/news/weak-statistical-standards-implicated-in-scientific-irreproducibility-1.14131)!
This paper's right though, honest...
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Nice one Stu!
Shame about this though :)
“They have cool atmospheres with clouds in, just like Jupiter, and now we see they have auroras, too,” says Littlefield
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I woke up to Stu talking on the radio, very disappointed to not hear anything about Rainshadow just some shit neither I nor Naughtie could get our heads around.
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Wow, you are one of those cool Astrophysicists, wearing a hoody like Brian Cox and all.
Possibility of aurora in the next couple of days.
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What was Stu on on the radio? Can it be heard again?
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What was Stu on on the radio? Can it be heard again?
Yup clip here (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02ycfxc)
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Cheers LB
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Wow, you are one of those cool Astrophysicists, wearing a hoody like Brian Cox and all.
Possibility of aurora in the next couple of days.
How did you know I had a hoody on? Radio has improved a lot these days...
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Wow, you are one of those cool Astrophysicists, wearing a hoody like Brian Cox and all.
Possibility of aurora in the next couple of days.
How did you know I had a hoody on? Radio has improved a lot these days...
Change in the acoustics...
call yourself a physicist? eh.... ;)
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Wow, you are one of those cool Astrophysicists, wearing a hoody like Brian Cox and all.
Possibility of aurora in the next couple of days.
How did you know I had a hoody on? Radio has improved a lot these days...
Clicked on the link in the article.
https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/physics/contacts/stuart-littlefair
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Perseid meteor shower tonight
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-33850710 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-33850710)
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a rotating-with-the-Sun thing that caused a big geomagnetic storm last time around is back.
Activity bar, 30 min aurora forecast and other stuff here (http://geomag.bgs.ac.uk/data_service/space_weather/Global_activity_now.html?)
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decent-sized geomagnetic storm in progress
at the level that is often visible from southern Scotland if there are not any clouds
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Unfortunately we had full cloud cover. Until about 4 am. Apparently
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Seen a FB pic this morning of the Aurora visible from Mapleton (E.Yorks)..
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nipped up to Stanage last night - gaps in the cloud but didn't see anything unfortunately
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nipped up to Stanage last night - gaps in the cloud but didn't see anything unfortunately
Someone else did (https://twitter.com/3dSparrow/status/678692137735704576)
Tom Sparrow @3dSparrow
Aurora taken near Stanage Edge, Peak District at 20.00 #AuroraWatchUK #peakdistrict
(http://i.imgur.com/h1nECCf.jpg)
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No way! :wall:
I missed it by 1.5 hours
I think that is from the field they fly the toy planes in?
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That doesn't look like anything that would be visible to the naked eye. Camera sensors are much more sensitive at low light levels, especially where colour is concerned.
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Plus long exposures and cranking up saturation levels can draw the slightest hint of green out of any image.
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Fulfilling one of my "Aims for 2016"
After a stressful day at work, and a long session at the wall I nipped down to the coast near home based on the forecast, and managed to grab a few shots before hands went totally numb and batteries started dying in the minus 5 or so temps.
(https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpt1/t31.0-8/12622037_10153256608591087_11921818291524665_o.jpg)
Anyone who has climbed locally may recognise the spot, and know the approach was a bit challenging with frozen ground and ice everywhere.
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Epic display last night, people getting photos way south, anyone capture much?
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I thought folk might like to see these shots, taken by an old school friend of mine last night, now living in Aberdeen.
I think they're pretty spectacular!
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1642/25506979561_e349493087_z.jpg)
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1517/25506987331_7ddd766ccb_z.jpg)
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1476/25573574826_5c1d9eea3f_z.jpg)
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1479/25506997981_3e79856704_z.jpg)
Copyright Mr. I. R. Lovegrove, Aberdeen. March 2016.
Thanks Ian!
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https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10153338269881087&set=a.10150324406831087.348718.689146086&type=3&theater
Here's a jpeg of probably my best shot. I think I had ISO too low, need a better wider and better lens.
Guy I was with nailed it.
https://www.facebook.com/gfpscotland/photos_stream
fair bit of photoshop.
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fair bit of photoshop.
Understatement of the year
:o
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Yep. I told him he'd overcooked it and he doesn't care.
I'm in the orange jacket.
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nice jacket
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Decathlon sale.
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Forecast to be active the next few nights, worth a look as it's moonless too. Meant to be more active later in the week, but we're forecast to be clouded out, tonight is best hope. Good luck,
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skunked by fog and clouds. Got a few shots with faint glow. Forecast to be better tonight, but we have low cloud and rain.
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Heads-up on potential aurora watching tonight: https://www.theguardian.com/science/across-the-universe/2017/sep/08/watch-out-for-the-northern-lights-tonight-uk-could-be-in-for-a-big-display-aurora (https://www.theguardian.com/science/across-the-universe/2017/sep/08/watch-out-for-the-northern-lights-tonight-uk-could-be-in-for-a-big-display-aurora)
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Fucking weather, there was a brief window about 2am apparently when skies cleared and it died off shortly after. Last night there was a brief spell as well, although no-one on mainland UK saw it.
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Left camera running on time lapse last night in the back garden and caught it between the clouds. Anyone else try?
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Big pile of cloud over Moray >:(
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we had cloud most of the night, but got some glimpses. Will load up once I get massive file downloaded.
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Big display Monday night, could see it with the eye from our back garden, visible as far south as the Peak. Anyone else catch it?
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My dad got a good snap with his phone from his garden outside Beauly, near Inverness. https://www.instagram.com/p/CxXSaAVN_QZ/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
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Ace. It was full on until about 9:45 then dropped off just as i went out for a look.
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Extremely active right now if anyone has a clear view north
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Can see it from the house and friends on holy island sending some amazing photos.
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In car at top of houndkirk looking north along with a load of other people doing same looking at nothing. All saying “I hope I’m not in the wrong car park” just to reassure each other :)
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We have cloud again. Spiked about 7, then dropped off. Don't expect to see it naked eye Dolly.
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Looks like it might be spiking again, but density is dropping and Bz component of IMF has flipped northerly again (download Spaceweather Live app and learn to use it, very handy).
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Good knowledge ta