Everything Science Forum

Be aware that we have a massive flare-up of a geomagnetic storm going on. Keep your eyes on the skies at night; the magnetic K-index has been running around 6 to 8, and at 9 or 10, I can see it even where I am in Alabama, USA. The light show should be good!

Can I see in kolkata,India?

Probably not, unfortunately.

But the geomagnetic storm is still occuring, and is a G4 out of 5 - severe. Keep watching!

Another CME will be sweeping past the Earth tonight.  Aurora should be visible across Canada and in North- to Mid-US.

Watch the northern skies after dark!  :)

Sorry I CANNOT SEE THE BEAUTY.

have you ever seen it in real life?

nice image:

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0407/moussette_aur16jul1_full.jpg

can i see it in brooklyn new york?

prolly not..lol...i bet ny hasnt seen anything like this ever...people would think its the second coming.


but can i!?!?!?!?

If you get outside the city, even just a few miles, you should be able to see them.  Inside the city, it is unlikely, but even if you did see them, you might mistake them for light pollution, as they would be "blended in" with the city's light pollution.

I will see through nasa eyes.

We have a full (Blue) moon tonight with overcast (very cloudy) skies.  Relative humidity is 90% and we have had scattered thundershowers today and the same weather is forecast for tomorrow.

So much for aurora watching.  :-\\

I dont feel sad now.None has seen it.

Sun's Unusual Activity Produces Impressive Auroras

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Sept. 18) - A huge sunspot has been blasting Earth with magnetic clouds for weeks, producing some of the most vibrant and visible summertime auroras in years, according to NASA scientists.

Scientists say the magnetic flare-ups from Sunspot 798 will last at least through Friday.

"It is a fairly large geomagnetic storm that we've had over the past 24 hours, and it should continue a little while longer," said aurora researcher Dirk Lummerzheim, at the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Skywide northern lights have awed Alaskans since last week and produced red displays as far south as Arizona.

A North Pole photographer has posted a dazzling picture of a display on the Geophysical Institute's online aurora forum, the Anchorage Daily News reported.

The shimmering green light came courtesy of Sunspot 798, which sent a gusting magnetic cloud hurtling toward Earth at more than a million miles per hour.

Sunspots are planet-sized splotches formed by the sun's roiling magnetic field.

The sunspots become unstable and explode, producing flares and propelling charged particles and radiation into space.

Sunspot activity can produce a geomagnetic storm that makes regular daily auroral activity much more visible than usual.

Solar scientists say the sun is supposed to be in the quiet phase of its 11-year cycle, with sunspot activity close to minimum.

But the year has so far produced four severe geomagnetic storms and 15 extreme flares.

"The sunspots of 2005, while fewer, have done more than their share of exploding," said solar physicist David Hathaway, of the National Space Science and Technology Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
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Big Sunspot Group Spawns Flares, Auroras (http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/sun/article_1588_1.asp) by Alan M. MacRobert

(Updated Sept. 16). It's been an amazingly busy week for solar observers, considering that we're several years past the peak of the 11-year sunspot cycle. During the last nine days, a large, intensely active sunspot complex known as Region 10808 (or 808 for short) has exploded with nine X-class flares and many smaller M-class flares. These have altered the near-Earth environment and disrupted radio communications, and they set off beautiful auroras over much of North America on the morning of the 11th.

The spot group itself is large enough to see with the unaided eye through a safe solar filter. The Sun's rotation has carried it to the western side of the Sun's disk as of the 16th, and will carry it out of sight around western limb on about the 21st.

Sunspot region 10808 (formerly known as 10798)

Aurora image

Greg A. Syverson (Getty Images) - A full moon helps illuminate the Alaskan oil pipeline under the glow of the Aurora Borealis near Milne Point.

Two aurora images - one from the ground (Aurora Borealis) and one from above (Aurora Australis) -

and movie of the bottom image - Aurora Australis movie - http://www.nasa.gov/mov/133777main_FUV_320x240.mov (download with 'save target as')