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It’s not over yet! May 11/12 aurora watch continues

It was a good night for aurora watchers all over Europe on the evening of May 10th/11th, 2024. Here's a great brief timelapse video sequence from Berkshire in the UK (via @Rainmaker1973 over at the Bye Bye Birdie place).

Among numerous other displays, this particular broad, pink "banner" structure was widely observed across the UK and Ireland around midnight local time / 2300 UT. It persisted, twisting and morphing into a variety of new shapes, for something like half an hour. The night's display as a whole was definitely one for the record books.

The early projections at the NOAA site suggest that the power of the incoming geomagnetic storm will be significantly less on Sunday, May 12th. But the night of May 11th still holds possibilities, as for the time being the storm seems to be holding at the relatively high Kp 8 level (on a scale of 0-9).

NOAA space weather forecasters have observed at least seven coronal mass ejections (CMEs) from the sun, with impacts expected to arrive on Earth as early as midday Friday, May 10, and persist through Sunday, May 12, 2024. 

Here are the early graphic projections for the zone of visibility on the evening of May 11 2024. Please note that (a) these are approximations and estimates, not hard and fast indicators of where the solar wind makes planetfall; and (b) as they did last night, they may well improve over the course of the day as newer and better data reaches the predicting devices and personnel.

The European animated projection comes via ITV (UK) weatherman Chris Page.

North American prediction images come via the Space Weather Prediction Center at the NOAA website. Right now (9:30 PM IDT / 2139 UT on May 11th) the NOAA's evening prediction animation for Europe and North America hasn't been generated yet. This still image (updated 1900 IDT) shows where the auroral viewing zone stands right now. The "likelihood of viewing" for Europe seems to have dropped pretty much into the 30-40% range.

That said, though, it's worth noting that the NOAA earlier issued yet another geomagnetic storm watch warning for 12 May, as the Sun apparently popped off both X-class and M-class flares early today; the effects of those are now in transit toward Earth. So we'll see in a day or so what comes of that. Sunspot region 3664, which has been responsible for all this excitement, is plainly not done spitting out flares just yet.

As regards tonight's predictions, it also remains to be seen whether what we get will be better... considering that last night's displays far outpaced everybody's expectations. I for one am quite willing to be surprised. 🙏

It's also worth noting here that so far today, the Kp index illustrated at the Space Weather Prediction Center's experimental aurora dashboard page—an indicator of the current strength of the geomagnetic storm—hasn't dropped off very much from last night's highs. It'll be interesting to see how this behaves as the day goes on. (ETA 2: image updated 11/05/2024, 2140 IDT)

Other useful resources for those interested in space weather generally, and solar weather:

NASA's SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) satellite's "The Sun Now" page

ESA Space Weather Service Network

NOAA (US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) Space Weather and Prediction Page

OVATION auroral prediction model from the DSCOVR spacecraft, via SpaceWeatherLive

AuroraWatch UK

Day 14: Food tour

Es regnet. Auch nachts war es schon bewölkt. Ich hatte gestern per Email extra Benachrichtigungen von aurorawatch bestellt, da man in der Nacht zuvor anscheinend von Jasper aus Nordlichter beobachten konnte! Ich wusste leider von nichts. Und bei dem Wetter kann man Himmelsphänomene jeglicher Art natürlich knicken.

Ich marschiere erstmal zum Waschsalon und bekomme dort zum Trost wenigstens einen Bären auf dem Kaffee spendiert.

Um 14 Uhr bin ich mit der guide Sandra und weiteren 9 Gästen zu einer food tour durch Jasper verabredet. Wir probieren elk meatloaf und Bier in der historischen Brauerei des Ortes, Rippchen mit poutine in einem Hotelrestaurant und Köstlichkeiten zwei weiterer Gaststätten.

Die anderen Teilnehmer:innen kommen aus Kanada und Australien. Ein Ehepaar, beide in Rente, lebt und reist im Wohnwagen. Bei einem jungen Mann aus Brisbane erkundige ich mich nach interessanten Besichtigungen in seiner Heimatstadt für die nächste Reise (sollte meine Kreditkarte nach irgendeiner wundersamen Geldschmelze irgendwann wieder aufgefüllt sein).

Die Führerin erzählt uns die Geschichten der Gaststätten und ihrer Inhaber:innen. Zwischen den Häppchen und Drinks spazieren wir zu ausgewählten bedeutsamen Sehenswürdigkeiten im Ort.

Laptop is starting to struggle with processing these epic aurora photos from last night. Time for a upgrade. #auroraborealis #lakeminniewanka #banff #banffnationalpark #pixelmator #macbookpro #macbookpro2009 #macupgrade #macupdate #pixelmatorapp #aurorawatch #aurorawatchca #auroracanada #bowvalley #banff_lakelouise #applemacbook #applemac #northernlights #rgphotobook #natgeotravel #natgeoyourshot #canon #canon600d #canon_photos #rokinon #rokinon14mm #rokinonlens #canon📷 #sky_sultans #sky_brilliance #lockedliving #adventurevisuals #longexposure_shots #cloudzdelight #thelenslives #photographersdiscovery #thephotosociety #theglobewanderer #shotkit #mustdotravels #moodyports (at Lake Minnewanka)

"AuroraWatch" sounds so cool but like I am guaranteed not to be able to pronounce it

Northern Lights time: The best time to see the aurora borealis in the UK TONIGHT

Northern Lights time: The best time to see the aurora borealis in the UK TONIGHT

Alex Beresford, ITV weather presenter, tweeted: “There’s a chance to see the aurora tonight, more so in the north. “Lots of solar activity and a release of plasma from the sun is set to collide with earth’s atmosphere amounting in this beautiful light display. “Spoiler – could be cloudy but fingers crossed.” The website AuroraWatch UK, run by scientists at Lancaster University’s Department of…

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AuroraWatch UK - alerts via fb text

In the Levi center you can easily see the northern lights already in the fall!

The Aurora watcher of the Elves Hideaway app, tells you the optimal time to peek to the sky on the Levi area. While visiting the Levi center, I got the northern light alarm on my phone at 3.12 AM. So if you don't want to miss the light show, put enough volume to the alarm sound!

Download the free Elves Hideaway app, and see it for yourself!

#Lapland #Finland #northernlights #Levi #Aurorawatcher

Solar storm set to shower UK with Northern Lights on Wednesday night

Visit Now - http://zeroviral.com/solar-storm-set-to-shower-uk-with-northern-lights-on-wednesday-night/

Solar storm set to shower UK with Northern Lights on Wednesday night

A minor solar storm will result in increased magnetosphere activity tonight, bringing with it the potential for supercharged Northern Lights.

The display is not expected to reach the heights of one last September, which followed the most powerful solar flare in a decade.

In the US, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has assessed the primary impact area as everywhere above 60 degrees latitude.

While this excludes the majority of England, the Aurora Borealis could be seen at this time of year over Wednesday night in the northernmost part of the country, localised entirely within the polewards part of the sky.

NOAA also warned that the electromagnetic storm could result in weak power grid fluctuations, and could also have a minor impact on satellite operations.

Image: Astronaut Paolo Nespoli took this stunning picture of Aurora Borealis from space

Speaking to Sky News, Daniel Billett, a PhD student in Space and Planetary Physics at Lancaster University, and a member of the AuroraWatch UK team which sends updates to people expecting Northern Lights.

“Today and tomorrow has been forecast for a G1 minor geomagnetic storm by the North Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

“This is due to fast streams of energetic particles finally making their way to Earth from the sun.

“Over the next couple of days, there’s a very real chance we could see the aurora in places around the UK.

“We expect a storm of this magnitude might be visible in Scotland and parts of northern England and Ireland, but could extend further south if it’s stronger than predicted.

“For the best possible chance to see the aurora, look out for clear, dark skies free of light pollution. Northward facing coastlines and high up rural areas tend to be good spots for aurora spotting.”

Image: As seen in Newtongrange in Midlothian last September. Pic: Fiona Horne

Last September, two powerful solar flares caused brilliant Northern Lights in higher latitudes and disrupted radio communications over large areas of Earth.

This week’s solar storm did not originate from a solar flare, however, but from a coronal hole – a region where the surface of the sun is dark.

Coronal holes are associated with “open” magnetic field lines and are where the high-speed solar wind originates as the holes allow particles to stream out into space.

A wave of these particles are expected to reach Earth on Wednesday and give the Northern Lights a boost in electromagnetic activity.

Just when I thought Scotland couldn’t be more breathtaking.... Crying on the inside with happiness and excitement for being able to witness the northern lights for the first time. #plockton #bbcscotland #northernlights #aurora #nightsky #wintersky #visitscotland #aurorawatch #auroraborealis #scotland #landscapephotography #landscapelover #scotlandsbeauty #traveller #nightphotography #borealis #landscapeofscotland #earth via Instagram http://ift.tt/2zE2JJE

@visitscotland @visitabdn #auroraborealis tonight from Loch of Strathbeg. #aurora #aurorauk #aurorawatch http://ift.tt/2eMlvCe

Using the Raspberry Pi sense hat to show the AuroraWatch UK status

Image © Barry Osborne 2017. Used with permission.

This post uses the Raspberry Pi sense hat to display the AuroraWatch UK alert status. It assumes you already have Raspbian installed on a Raspberry Pi, networking configured and enabled, and the sense hat fitted to the Pi. The current status level is easily obtained from the AuroraWatch UK API with a custom python module. First, ensure you have the necessary python modules installed from the Raspbian software archive: sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install python-lxml python-requests python-six Then install two custom python modules. We will install them into the user profile, so run these commands as the user pi: pip install --user --no-deps atomiccreate pip install --user --no-deps aurorawatchuk Finally, download the python script which fetches the status and displays it on the sense hat (I used bit.ly to shorten the original GitHub URL): wget https://bit.ly/awuk-status-on-sense-hat -O awuk_sense_hat.py The AuroraWatch UK status can then be displayed on the sense hat with this simple command: python awuk_sense_hat.py The program will monitor the current status and set the LED colours to show the status level (green, yellow, amber or red). For more information about the AuroraWatch UK status level meaning and interpretation see http://aurorawatch.lancs.ac.uk/alerts/. If you don't have a sense hat (I don't) it is even possible to try this with the sense hat emulator.

Credits

The geomagnetic activity status is courtesy of AuroraWatch UK and uses data from the SAMNET and AuroraWatchNet magnetometers.See also the AuroraWatch UK conditions of use for the API. Thanks to Barry Osborne for testing the software with a real Raspberry Pi sense hat, and for providing the photograph.

Using the Raspberry Pi sense hat to show the AuroraWatch UK status was originally published on PlanetArduino

Laptop is starting to struggle with processing these epic aurora photos from last night. Time for a upgrade. #aurora #auroraborealis #lakeminniewanka #banff #banffnationalpark #pixelmator #macbookpro #macbookpro2009 #macupgrade #macupdate #mainvision #pixelmatorapp #aurorawatch #aurorawatchca #auroracanada #bowvalley #banff_lakelouise #applemacbook #applemac #northernlights #rgphotobook #nightcitylights #banff_lakelouise #natgeotravel #natgeoyourshot #canon #canon600d #canon_photos #rokinon #rokinon14mm #rokinonlens #canonphotography #longexposure #longexposure_shots #thelenslives #lockedliving #theimaged #collectivetravels #mustdotravels #moodyports #shotkit #adventurevisuals #sky_sultans #sky_brilliance (at Lake Minnewanka)

#aurora ! :) The aurorawatch red-alert tipped me off at 7PM! :| #auroraborealis #livingsky #beautifulnature #beautifulsaskatchewan #naturelovers (at Saskatoon, Saskatchewan)

Favorite tweets: Minor geomagnetic activity. Issued 2017-02-03 19:59 UTC by @aurorawatchuk.— AuroraWatch UK (@aurorawatchuk) February 3, 2017

http://twitter.com/aurorawatchuk