rustoleumlove, 9 days ago

@astro_jcm i'm so excited bc for once, the Chicago area actually is forecast to have clear skies for this one.

i understand, BTW. i flew to the arctic circle in the hopes of seeing the aurora and did not. i had to mute the word 'aurora' on social media for years i was so bitter about it 🤣

michael_w_busch, 10 days ago (edited 9 days ago)

@astro_jcm I will just be following social media feeds from Antarctica over-winters.

Since here the aurora will be lost behind clouds and skyglow.

gregdavis, 10 days ago

@astro_jcm On the other hand, it will be raining in NYC for the next few days. I remember seeing red bands in the sky that far south back in what I think was the 2003 event.

astro_jcm, 10 days ago

@gregdavis Ouch! But nice that you could see them back then!

juandesant, 10 days ago

@astro_jcm or you can relocate yourself to a higher latitude ;-)

#Aurora #AuroraBorealis #Iceland

Aurora borealis seen in a long exposure take near Reykjavik. White clouds are illuminated by the city lights, while several greenish iridescences can be seen in the cloud-free parts. The green light is also reflected over the sea.

juandesant, 10 days ago

@astro_jcm BTW, are there calculations on how far north the aurora australis would be visible? Not much of a chance with light pollution in Santiago and the current cloud coverage, I guess…

astro_jcm, 10 days ago

@juandesant Recent NOAA forecasts show emissions all the way down to Seattle. I don't think you'll be lucky in Santiago, but there should be a nice display in Antarctica.

juandesant, 9 days ago

@astro_jcm thanks for the pointer to NOAA, I got this…

https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/aurora-30-minute-forecast

What is the power figure that is shown (peak of ~200 GW), the total energy input from the solar wind, or from the aurora processes themselves?

(Nerd side. note: that is more than 160 times the power required to activate a “flux capacitor”…)

lolopb, 9 days ago

@juandesant @astro_jcm sorry to ask but can this be some aurora? I’m in south west of France, just west of Bordeaux. I could barely see them but they were very visible on pics.

Suspected aurora as seen from Arcachon. To be confirmed though!
Suspected aurora as seen from Arcachon. To be confirmed though!
Suspected aurora as seen from Arcachon. To be confirmed though!

astro_jcm, 9 days ago

@lolopb @juandesant Definitely aurora!

lolopb, 9 days ago

@astro_jcm @juandesant You've just made my day!

I was seeing very light colours and then I thought I should try to see what it would look like with the iPhone and this happened! Magic 🤩

juandesant, 9 days ago

@lolopb @astro_jcm if you already could see the colours it means it is very powerful… the second photo I posted looked like a greyish moving cloud, and only when I took the long exposure picture (30 seconds) I could see the colours.

For the first photo (the rotated C shape) we could see the colours with our own eyes.

lolopb, 9 days ago

@juandesant @astro_jcm ok! It was very subtle, at first I thought it was either some city lights (but that was a weird colour for that) or the last lights of sunset (but again it did not make much sense either). It was really the long exposure of the iPhone (3 seconds thingy) that was showing this :)

Thank you to both of you for all the explanations!

juandesant, 9 days ago

@lolopb @astro_jcm if you set your iPhone on a tripod (or anything that ensure that the phone is still), you can enable much longer exposures (up to 30 seconds) in night mode… please try that!

My tripod for the aurora pictures was my car, and a boulder, respectively ;-)

lolopb, 9 days ago

@juandesant @astro_jcm too late, where I am now the view is awful 😢

Tomorrow maybe or will it be too late? I can always try! With both the iPhone and the Fuji 😊

juandesant, 9 days ago

@lolopb @astro_jcm it might not be as powerful, but it should still be visible.

For your Fuji, set it to a high ISO (beyond 3600), wide aperture, and check between 5 and 30 seconds… best of luck!