A spectacular blast from the sun occurred Friday afternoon August 31. Material from the event will reach the Earth later tonight and may spark auroras. The photo was taken with the coronagraph – an instrument that blocks direct sunlight with a special disk. Credit: NASA/ESA
I had a sneaky feeling that if I wrote about expectations for the current solar cycle, auroras might return. Time to keep a look-out. They may be out as soon as tonight through tomorrow evening. A large filament of hot gas hovering in the sun’s atmosphere on August 31 became unstable and erupted, producing a flare and strong CME (coronal mass ejection). Visually it was one of the most dramatic blasts I’ve ever seen. A beastly-looking thing. The photo and video tell the story.
Wonderful video of the filament blasting off from the sun taken in UV light.
Material from the explosion wasn’t aimed directly at Earth – you can see much of it blasting off to the sun’s left side – but NOAA space weather forecasters predict it will graze the planet sometime tonight through tomorrow night. Those living at polar latitudes may well see a full bore storm; auroras are also possible for the northern U.S. and southern Canada. As of 8:45 p.m. tonight (CDT) the Kp index, an indicator of magnetic activity high overhead, has clicked up to “4″ – just below minor storm level. When it hits “5″ and the indicator bar is red, it’s worth pulling the curtain back to see if the aurora’s dancing around in the northern sky.
What time might beast likely to see the Aurora tonight/this morning in Duluth?
Melanie,
So far nothing here in Duluth but the moon’s up now and bright. I can’t say exactly what time, just the possibility it might happen later tonight or tomorrow night.
I saw some pretty intense auroras here in northern Canada. Like nothing Ive ever seen before. There were pinks and they were dancing all over the sky. I havent seen them like that in years if ever.
KC,
Was this last night or …?
last night my husband and I saw what looked like an airplane on fire or flare traveling across the sky below the big dipper. We live at Sandy Point, Ferndale, WA facing the straights of Georgia. We watched for quite some distance and then it seemed to disappear into nothing. Does anyone know if this was the auroras?
Thank you…Erin
Hi Erin,
Thanks for writing. That would not have been the aurora. It sounds like you saw a bright meteor. The aurora usually lasts much longer; it’s larger and shaped like a glowing arc or rays that stick up from the horizon. The big wave from the solar explosion hit this morning around sunrise (CDT) and is busy right now producing auroras over Siberia and Scandinavia. Let’s hope it continues into the night for North America.
hi bob. just went to the ovation aurora page, and i see a green swatch across most of new york state … am i reading the map correctly, that we might see aurora activity here in new york, and if so, when do you think? thanks! robin
Hi Robin,
I think those random patches – which are now across n. Minn. and S. Mich – are noise. The red line shows the border of the aurora as seen from the ground and that appears to be a little north of New York State as of 11:15 p.m. (CDT). I’ve been watching here in Duluth but the sky has clouded over just now. Aurora is lurking near the U.S.!
Robin,
Cleared up again. Still no aurora – at least nothing than can compete with the moonlight. There was a great spike in activity around 7 p.m. CDT but too early to see. Perhaps things will pick up again later.
Yes that was Sunday night/Monday morning. I went out around 12:45 PST and the sky was full of greens. I went out again around 1:30 (these times are approximate) and the pinks were out and boy were they dancing around. There was also a huge green strip going directly over my head that really looked like it was flowing.
I’ve lived in Northern Canada most of my 30 years and dont remember anything like that. Certainly not in the last 15 years.
Wow! Wish I lived farther north.