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Aurora Alert


baltosquid
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My daughter went out around 1020-1030 last night and caught the beginning of the second substorm. Wish we knew it was coming! PSA to all my neighbors…you don’t have to keep your porch lights on 24/7. It’s bad for birds, bugs, and viewing the night sky.

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I don't think it's unreasonable to say there could be more solar storms of this magnitude before this solar cycle winds down. It seems like for years all of the sunspots would hurl CMEs on the farside only - our "luck" has changed seemingly. While there hasn't been prolific amounts of high M or X flares - there have been a few very well timed ones. 

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16 minutes ago, Kmlwx said:

I don't think it's unreasonable to say there could be more solar storms of this magnitude before this solar cycle winds down. It seems like for years all of the sunspots would hurl CMEs on the farside only - our "luck" has changed seemingly. While there hasn't been prolific amounts of high M or X flares - there have been a few very well timed ones. 

But in my 48 years of life. I have never seen such vivid colors like last night. Is there more than meets the eye here?

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8 minutes ago, Interstate said:

But in my 48 years of life. I have never seen such vivid colors like last night. Is there more than meets the eye here?

Similar to how we all salivate and wait for a 30+ inch snowstorm...a well timed series of strong flares all with CMEs (the May event I think was a bunch of M-class flares in quick succession) would be a good bet for having a huge storm. It's obviously more complicated (Bz has to be tipped to the south I believe) but the basic building blocks is we want a HUGE CME or better yet a series of them. Often times the first CME will "clear out" space ahead of it leading to the subsequent CMEs (even if weaker) overperforming. It's rare - but if there was ever a time during the sun's 11 year cycle to watch - it's now. 

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I went out about 11pm and walked down to the end of the driveway. The color was noticeable in the north sky but pretty faint. Also fleeting. Thought about taking a drive but didn't seem worth it. I know it is enhanced(exaggerated) by taking a digital photo, but if I can't see it that way with the naked eye I don't really see the point lol.

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24 minutes ago, CAPE said:

I went out about 11pm and walked down to the end of the driveway. The color was noticeable in the north sky but pretty faint. Also fleeting. Thought about taking a drive but didn't seem worth it. I know it is enhanced(exaggerated) by taking a digital photo, but if I can't see it that way with the naked eye I don't really see the point lol.

The one right at sunset was the place to be.   That was very visible to the naked eye. Pinks, reds, blues and even greens.  It was amazing... Almost amazing as the totality of the solar eclipse.

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The one right at sunset was the place to be.   That was very visible to the naked eye. Pinks, reds, blues and even greens.  It was amazing... Almost amazing as the totality of the solar eclipse.

Agreed. That one literally almost ran me off the road driving up through northern MD.


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2 hours ago, Interstate said:

But in my 48 years of life. I have never seen such vivid colors like last night. Is there more than meets the eye here?

The May one was more intense and vivid but you guys in the dmv got hosed by clouds. Last night was pretty epic tho but that may deal down here in swva was astounding and I've seen NLs in Canada back in 96. Those were a pure 2 tab acid trip. May was a modest shroom trip but the location made it kinda mind boggling 

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2 hours ago, WxUSAF said:

My daughter went out around 1020-1030 last night and caught the beginning of the second substorm. Wish we knew it was coming! PSA to all my neighbors…you don’t have to keep your porch lights on 24/7. It’s bad for birds, bugs, and viewing the night sky.

The WORST fookin invention was cheap motion detection floods. Walking the dog at night last 5 years in Rockville was a game of cat and mouse with floods. 

 

When we bought our Rockville house in 02, our rear neighbors had 2 floods on 24/7 in the back yard. Omg annoyed the hell out of me but I was new to the hood so didn't want to be a jerk and complain so I did the next smartest thing....

Drank about 6 beers on my patio and wandered up the yard and tresspassed into theirs with a 5 gal bucket to stand on around 1am. Then gently unscrewed bulbs till they went out. That was it. They never screwed them back in for 20 years lol. Same bulbs were in the fixtures when we sold. 

So why did they even have them on in the first place? Well, they clearly had no f'n idea either hahahaha

 

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2 hours ago, WxUSAF said:

My daughter went out around 1020-1030 last night and caught the beginning of the second substorm. Wish we knew it was coming! PSA to all my neighbors…you don’t have to keep your porch lights on 24/7. It’s bad for birds, bugs, and viewing the night sky.

This x1000 -- I turned off all of our backyard/patio lights and still couldn't quite overcome the "airport runway" lighting of adjacent neighbors, let alone the damnable light pollution from the city. Just wasn't in the cards for me, since we need to focus on the northern half of the horizon...and the city is pretty much due north of us. :(  This was the best that I could capture, after 25 takes, each about 3-4 minutes in length...and actually snapped this one looking northeast, FFS.

OTOH, I thoroughly enjoyed everyone sharing your gorgeous pics here...also had friends from central PA, the MD/DE beaches AND SC send equally vivid pics. I guess I'm just gonna have to resort to "aurora chasing" in the future.

image.thumb.jpeg.204f9d45a33b45dd3db9abf6b1add7db.jpeg

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58 minutes ago, ge0 said:

Saw it last night. Pretty neat. Is this over or will there be more tonight?

Yeah - @SomeguyfromTakomaPark said - it'll likely be limited to G1 to G2 level "storming" tonight. Last night was definitely the show. Now we turn our eyes back to the sun for more activity. The solar disk looks a bit more quiet right now - but that can change in a hurry! 

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2 hours ago, Kmlwx said:

Yeah - @SomeguyfromTakomaPark said - it'll likely be limited to G1 to G2 level "storming" tonight. Last night was definitely the show. Now we turn our eyes back to the sun for more activity. The solar disk looks a bit more quiet right now - but that can change in a hurry! 

This solar max is by no means done

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1 hour ago, eyewall said:

This solar max is by no means done

100% agree. Plenty of time at/near solar max remains. And it doesn't have to be a Carrington-level event to get us with great auroral activity. Heck...even a series of modest M-flares can have a cumulative effect larger than a single X flare. So many variables! Tough enough with Earth weather forecasting. Solar weather......no thanks on having that as a profession! 

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8 minutes ago, Amped said:

Funny I was in downtown Columbia all night and it didn't look like this. Maybe a tenth that bright.

 

Well...keep in mind almost all of these photos are 1-4 second exposures. Modern smartphones automatically go into "night shot mode" unless you specify otherwise. Naked eye was of course much dimmer than the photos. 

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27 minutes ago, Kmlwx said:

Well...keep in mind almost all of these photos are 1-4 second exposures. Modern smartphones automatically go into "night shot mode" unless you specify otherwise. Naked eye was of course much dimmer than the photos. 

Yeah, my shot isn’t what I saw. I could tell that it was happening, but to the naked eye, it didn’t look like like the photo.

For me, it doesn’t take away from the event.

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