Tag Archives: aurora

Magnificent aurora thrills Upper Midwest skywatchers overnight

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This was “round two” of the aurora borealis last night at 11:30 p.m. Just when the aurora appeared to be quieting down,  multiple, bright rays towered back into the northwestern sky.  Credit: Bob KIng

Boy, we got hit last night. When I first saw the aurora doing its crazy moves in twilight  I knew we were in for something special. The northeastern sky – still dusky blue – lit up with multiple rays and arcs. It only got better as darkness settled in; by 11 o’clock stretchy, squirmy rays and pulsing patches of aurora cloaked the entire northern sky. But it didn’t stop there. Brimming with the sun’s energy, snake-like coils wrapped around the zenith and wriggled into the southern sky.

This photo was taken in twilight in a deep blue sky. Look at all those layers of curtains! Credit: Bob King

The show went on and on and on. Right when you thought nature would call it a wrap, the aurora charged up again and raced to the zenith. Finally around 1 a.m. it settled into a quieter dance of diffuse curtains and rays and continued till dawn.

These rays reached beyond the Big Dipper all the way to the zenith (top of the sky). The display was filled with movement; lots of flaming or pulsing lights made it a joy to watch. Credit: Bob King

I’ve included a few photos from the night for you to enjoy. The pictures were taken about 20 miles north of Duluth, Minn. with a Canon 1D Mark III camera using a wide angle 16-35mm zoom lens, aperture f/2.8, ISO 1600 and exposures from 8-20 seconds.

Some of the best moments I can’t show you because the pulsing patches came and went too fast to register much of an impression in the camera. I also seriously need to invest in a fisheye lens to better show the breadth of sky covered by our eyes – this aurora was simply too big!

The aurora appeared mostly pale green to the eye but the camera picked up subtle colors in time exposures. The green band forms from excited oxygen molecules; blue-purple rays likely from excited nitrogen molecules. Credit: Bob King

I hope some of you caught the alert and had access to clear, dark skies to see the northern lights with your own eyes. Space weather forecasters are calling for more minor storms this evening June 7-8. I’m definitely game for a two-fer, sleep or no.

An interesting rayed arc (top) stands above a thick, featureless arc. Credit: Bob King

Cool, bright green rays join the Big Dipper high in the northwestern sky. Rays and patches brightened, disappeared and re-appeared like someone shining a flashlight around a room. Credit: Bob King

The International Space Station buzzed through the scene just when the aurora was brightest around 11:45 p.m. At left is a trail from flashing airplane lights. Credit: Bob King

Alien auroras and other curiosities of the night

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This isolated green patch of aurora slowly brightened and faded for many minutes at nightfall last night June 3. This smooth, slow-pulsating form of aurora is uncommon. Photo: Bob King

Last the night was that perfect one hoped for by all stargazers. Calm weather, no clouds or bugs and a sky jammed with too many stars to count. Even the usual atmospheric turbulence that blurs planets and mushes out star images took a hike for the night.

Comet C/2011 L4 PANSTARRS on June 1. The brighter head and at least several degrees of its long tail are still visible faintly in 10×50 binoculars. Views in 10-inch or larger telescopes are amazing. PANSTARRS is currently smack dab in the middle of Little Dipper not far from Polaris (bright star at right).

I drove out to the lonely lands north of Duluth, Minn. and set up the telescope for a look at many things – comets (PANSTARRS was freaking amazing with its long, faint tail), Saturn, star clusters and nebulae. But the one thing that vied for my attention all night long was a curious species of aurora that resembled a sausage, or if you’re into extraterrestrials, an alien spaceship.

The sausage materialized during late twilight below the Little Dipper in the northern sky. Nothing above it, nothing below – just this strange, smooth, lime glow about two fists wide. For the next hour it played hide-and-seek, fading away and reappearing like breath on a mirror.

Wide angle view of the eastern sky showing the Milky Way in the Northern Cross and a second smaller patch of isolated aurora around 11:30-midnight last night. Photo: Bob King

By 11:30 it was nearly gone. That was about the time another smaller patch fired up low in the northeastern sky. This apparition took its time, morphing into a second green sausage centered under the familiar W of Cassiopeia by 1 a.m.

A second glowing patch gathers strength below the constellation Cassiopeia in the northeastern sky early this morning. Photo: Bob King

Meanwhile, the International Space Station, basking in sunlight for its entire orbit the next week, passed by twice. One the first run at 11:50, it sliced right through the aurora before disappearing over the eastern horizon.

The International Space Station (ISS) crosses the northern sky this morning at 1:23 a.m. The aurora had faded and spread into streaks by that time. Photo: Bob King

By the time of the second pass at 1:23 a.m. the patches were fading and spreading. On this pass I once again enjoyed a view of the space station and its picturesque solar panels by following it through the telescope. Giorgio Rizzarelli of Italy sent a photo that shows very well how the ISS looks through a typical telescope if you’re fast enough to grab a look.

The ISS through an 8-inch scope on May 21, 2013. Rizzarelli shares that he could just make out the solar panels in his 9-power finderscope. Credit: Giorgio Rizzarelli

At 2 a.m. it was time to head home and get some sleep. Driving out, I noticed my gas warning light go on, which usually means 3 gallons left in the tank. No problem, I thought. The total distance would come to fewer than 40 miles. That’s not how it worked out. Six miles from the front door, the car briefly lost power but then fired up again. One mile later I was out of gas.

The ISS passes over the aurora shortly before midnight last night. Since the station orbits 250 miles high, it was most likely well above this shard of northern lights. Photo: Bob King

Unlike the aurora, which kept surging back to life, my ride wasn’t going anywhere. I’m grateful for my wonderful wife, who drove out in the middle of the night to meet me with a gas can. Thank you honey.

Quiet aurora – so far – in upper Midwest tonight June 1-2

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The northern lights at 12:30 a.m. Sunday morning June 2. Low clouds at left glow orange from city light pollution. One faint ray stands above a low, double arc. Photo: Bob King

The sky has finally cleared here in Duluth, Minn. and I can see a low glow that looks like the start of dawn in the northern sky. Yes, the aurora is out, but it’s pretty quiet tonight. A greenish arc is hunkered down near the horizon; now and again a faint ray appears and then fades away.

I wanted to send out this brief report despite the late hour for all those aurora seekers out there.

Keep watch for the northern lights tonight June 1-2

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Eric Anderson of Omaha, Nebraska took this gorgeous shot of last night’s display. “Just had an epic aurora borealis photo shoot west of Lyons, Neb. I didn’t increase colors on this at all. 20″ exposure.” Credit: Eric Anderson

Last night’s aurora crept up out of nowhere. Space weather forecasters predicted a very small chance of a minor auroras for mid-latitudes, but a sudden change in the direction of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) set Earth’s magnetic field a-jitter, sparking a nice display of northern lights. The storm’s still raging across Siberia this afternoon with no sign of letting up.

The interplanetary magnetic field, created by a wind of solar plasma entwined with magnetic fields, whirls from the sun in the shape of a gigantic spiral. As waves of varying strength, density and direction pass by Earth, our planet’s magnetic field occasionally hooks up with the sun’s, making auroras likely. Credit: NASA

The IMF is a part of the sun’s magnetic field carried into interplanetary space by the solar wind, a high-speed outflow of subatomic particles, mostly electrons and protons. Scientists call this soup of charged particles a plasma. Because the sun rotates, solar plasma travels away from the sun in grand spirals much like water spraying from one of those rotating lawn sprinklers.

Click to watch a video of the solar wind linking up with Earth’s magnetic field behind the planet, sparking a particle cascade and auroras in our upper atmosphere.

Embedded within the sun’s plasma swirls are portions of its magnetic field. As the IMF sweeps past Earth, it normally glides by, deflected by our protective magnetic field, and no one’s worse for the wear. But when solar magnetic field points south – what’s called a southward Bz – it can hook up with Earth’s northward-pointing magnetic field. Once linked, the IMF dumps its baggage of high-speed particles into our atmosphere to light up the sky with aurora and set satellite operators on edge.

That’s exactly what happened yesterday evening. The Bz turned sharply south and Earth’s private space was invaded by a particle horde. Coronal mass ejections and constant fluctuations in the solar wind can tip the Bz this way and that and set the scene for northern lights.

Last night’s bright aurora photographed from Beecher, Wis. by Brian Larmay. Click to see more aurora pix on his website.

Last night’s storm rated a G2 or moderate on NOAA’s space weather scale. G2s not only produce auroras but can cause fading of radio transmissions at high latitudes, drag on satellites and even trigger voltage alarms on power grid stations.

The aurora often begins as little more than a low, greenish arc in the northern sky. If conditions are right, multiple arcs and rays can form and sometimes fill the entire sky. Photo: Bob King

The aurora will likely continue through this evening, so be on the watch. Check the Kp index and if it’s up to “5″ or higher (in the red zone), chances are decent you’ll see aurora at least from the northern U.S. Another cool tool is the Ovation aurora site that displays a beautiful graphic representation of the complete auroral oval. When you see the oval’s edge creep up to or over the northern U.S. auroras are almost certain to show. Of course you’ll need a clear sky, which is often the trickiest thing to find.

How about mixing your aurora up with a nighttime thunderstorm? Rob Rustvold shot the spectacular dual display along the northern horizon in Fort Dodge, Iowa last night. Credit: Rob Rustvold

I’ll update the blog this evening if and when auroras come back to green-wash the sky.

Auroras happening right now May 31-June 1

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The aurora borealis is busy tonight painting the northern sky green. Even with clouds in the way, the lights were obvious. This photo taken at 11:40 p.m. May 31. Photo: Bob King

Clouds are thick tonight but not enough to blot out the northern lights. A storm’s in progress right now with a big old green glow covering most of the northern sky. If your skies are clear, head out for a look. This might just be the night you’ve been waiting for. The Kp index, an indicator of magnetic activity around the Earth, has shot up to “5″ indicating a geomagnetic (aurora) storm is in progress.

The auroral oval has expanded toward the northern U.S. this evening and now covers half the sky as seen from Duluth, Minn. Credit: NOAA

The auroral oval, that Cheerio-shaped cap of permanent aurora around the north magnetic pole, now extends all the way down to N. Minnesota, Michigan and North Dakota. The “viewing line” where sky watchers can spot at least some aurora in the sky reaches across Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois and West Virginia.

Check out the sky at your place, and if it’s clear, see if you spot the northern lights. This might be the night you’ve been waiting for.

Cool moon, hot sun and a laser-like PANSTARRS comet

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Click to watch the nearly full moon cover the bright star Beta Scopii last night.

I caught a glimpse of the moon last night but clouds ruled soon after. Too bad. Like some of you I’d hoped to see the bright star Beta in the constellation Scorpius pinned to the moon’s edge. Others were luckier including Dave Dickinson, who watched the event from Hudson, Florida. You can watch the moon slowly edge up to the star and cover it in his video above. All these broiling and boiling you see along the moon’s edge is due to air turbulence.

The sun photographed this morning at 10:15 a.m CDT by the Solar Dynamics Observatory. Sunspot groups 1755 and 1756 are magnetically complex and could produce moderately powerful M-class flares. The groups are approaching the center of the sun’s disk, a great place to let loose with flares that could lead to auroral displays on Earth. Credit: NASA

Billows of high-speed particles shot out during from recent solar flares arrived yesterday afternoon (U.S. time) and overnight. Any auroras that might have been visible had to compete with moonlight in northern European skies and again this morning around 1-2 a.m. Central time here in the northern U.S. and Canada. There remains a 20% chance for a minor auroras for mid-latitudes tonight.

Comet C/2011 L4 PANSTARRS on May 23 displays a long, “laser beam” tail due to our unique perspective on the comet. Click to enlarge. Credit: Michael Jaeger

By Monday night (May 27), the moon will be out of the sky for at least a little while at nightfall. During this  dark window I encourage sky watchers with 50mm or larger binoculars or a telescope to point it toward Comet PANSTARRS, the comet that keeps on giving. Earth passes through PANSTARRS’ orbital plane Sunday-Monday affording us a unique perspective.

From our perspective on Earth we view the dust boiled off from Comet PANSTARRS’ nucleus edge-on this weekend. It all stacks up to create a very narrow, long and relatively bright tail. Seen broadside, it would appear as a wide, faint fan. Illustration: NASA with additions by Bob King

Normally we look at comets off to one side or another and see the dust left behind in its orbit as a broad glowing fan or fan-shaped tail. This weekend however we’ll face PANSTARRS’ debris edge-on. All the dust spewed in the past few months lines up one particle in front of the other to create a thin streak of a tail many degrees long. The photo shows the effect beautifully. You can read more about Earth and PANSTARRS in my article in Universe Today. Click HERE for a map to find the comet.

 

Aurora alert tonight May 17-18, 2013

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This map created with satellite data for 11:30 p.m. CDT May 17 shows the extent of the northern auroral oval, one of two permanent caps of aurora centered on Earth’s north and south geomagnetic poles. Normally the oval is small and snugged up over Hudson Bay. Tonight it’s expanded southward and could produce auroras across the northern border of the U.S. Click to see current oval. Credit: NOAA

If it were clear here in Duluth, I’m sure we’d be seeing northern lights. The Kp index, an indicator of magnetic activity around the Earth, shot up to “5″ or minor storm level around 11 p.m. Central time this evening (Friday). From the satellite plot, it appears the auroral oval extends across southern Canada almost to the U.S. border.

Since the aurora is quite high – around 60-200 miles – it’s visible a fair distance to the south of that line. In other words, northern parts of Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, N. Dakota, Montana and Washington may get treated to the sight of northern lights overnight.

Sunspot region 1748 still has the potential for more solar storms. Since the group’s now becoming more face-on to Earth, additional flares could send CMEs in our direction. Another flare on May 17 sent material expected to arrive on the 19th. Credit: NASA

Be sure to take a look at the northern sky tonight for arcs and rays of aurora. As you might guess, the cause for this show lies with the recent X-class flares sunspot region 1748 has been pounding out over the week. Our planet was expected to get a glancing brush from a coronal mass ejection (CME) overnight from one of the recent blasts. Let us know if you see anything. And get ready for May 19 – Sunday – when another blast could spark an even more auroras.

You’ll love this video of Lake Superior northern lights

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Opening screen of Shawn Malone’s “North Country Dreamland” video of auroras over Lake Superior. Click photo to watch. Credit and copyright: Shawn Malone / lakesuperiorphoto.com

Shawn Malone of Marquette, Mich. has created a masterpiece of video. She recently finished a year-long project shooting more than 10,000 pictures of the aurora borealis from 33 separate locations on many cold nights.

An eruption of magenta auroral rays from Malone’s video project. Credit: Shawn Malone

“It took a lot of coffee, a bit of tenacity and persistence to get this into a form of coherent electrified cosmic goodness,” writes Malone. Although I’ve never met Shawn, we’ve exchanged friendly e-mails and her work regularly appears on Spaceweather. I like to think of her covering the aurora from Lake Superior’s south shore while I keep vigil here along the north shore. Naturally, she has an advantage – the whole of Lake Superior is her reflecting pool for those awesome greens and reds captured so beautifully in the video.

A heron walks the beach during a time lapse sequence of the northern lights. Credit: Shawn Malone

Some of my favorite moments in the many time lapses include the heron walking along the beach, a magnificent eruption of deep red rays and the full moon fogbow beneath the aurora in the final sequence. I like that Malone spent time recording both the quieter side of the northern lights – those many low, green arcs – as well as its wild magic. Kudos for the nice soundtrack also.

Eagle Harbor lighthouse and the Milky Way. Credit: Shawn Malone

Click on the photo or go HERE to see the video. It’s in HD (high-definition) and will run slowly on some computers unless you wait a few minutes for it to load. You can also toggle the HD button to off for a real-time view. Either way it’s dynamite.

Be sure to read the comments Shawn included on the same page as the video. I hope you enjoy the show as much as I did.

Possible auroras for northern U.S. tonight May 7-8

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A low auroral glow silhouettes distant clouds early this morning (May 7) around 12:15 a.m. A similar aurora might be visible tonight. Photo: Bob King

Although not in the forecast for the U.S., looking at tonight’s satellite plots of the auroral oval – the permanent rings of auroral activity centered over the north and south magnetic poles – it’s obvious activity is up as of 10 p.m. Central time. Similar conditions existed both yesterday morning and last night.

Those living in the northern U.S. who have access to dark skies might want to be on the lookout for low arcs of aurora and faint rays late tonight. Let us know if you see any.

Morning aurora topped off by avian cheer

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A pretty series of rays sprouts above a pair of green arcs this morning around 3 a.m. CDT. Photo: Bob King

I got up for the stars but stayed for the birds. Clear skies overnight allowed for a look at a surprise aurora display, comets PANSTARRS and Lemmon, a handful of spectacular Eta Aquarid meteors and an attractive lunar crescent early this morning.

Three images from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory were combined to create this spectacular view of last Friday’s flare. Credit: NASA

No auroras were predicted and true-to-forecast all looked quite at least through midnight. But at 2:30 this morning a bright green band spanned the northern horizon punctuated by one, two and occasionally an entire series of faint, rosy rays.

Sunspot group 1734′s largest spot – at left – is several times the diameter of Earth. This photo was taken this morning May 6, 2013. Credit: NASA

Expect more excitement courtesy of our parent star. Last Friday, a big flare erupted along’s the sun’s eastern edge, hurling a dragon-like tongue of incandescent hydrogen gas 120,000 miles (193,000 km) above the surface. Although this storm wasn’t directed toward Earth, the large sunspot group 1734 is currently nearly face-on to the planet and has the potential for strong flares. Cross your fingers.

A bright Eta Aquarid streaks across the northern sky and aurora this morning around 2:45 a.m. Photo: Bob King

I had planned to look at a variety of objects in the telescope but kept getting “distracted” by both the northern lights and regular appearances of incredibly fast, long-trailed meteors streaking across the northern sky from the east – Eta Aquarids.

Because the shower has a broad peak I encourage you to go out for a look yourself. Being so far north, I figured only a few might be seen here in Duluth, Minn. but was happily proven wrong. Had I simply sat in a lawn chair and stared skyward I’m certain I would have seen many more. Click HERE for more on the shower and how to view it.

A wide-field photo of Comet C/2011 L4 PANSTARRS shot on May 4, 2013. The comet is oriented the way it would appear shortly before dawn with the anti-tail pointing down and broad dust fan opening to the left. Credit: Joseph Brimacombe

Let me tell you about Comet PANSTARRS. In 10×50 binoculars I was surprised by how much there was to see under a dark sky. The V or fan-shaped tail spread is still obvious marked at its base by the small, brighter comet’s head. A second, straight anti-tail (debris left by the comet along its orbital path) stuck out like a pinkie finger from one side.

I estimated the whole works measured 1 degree or two full moon diameters across. While faint and smoky-looking at magnitude 7, the comet was very easy to pick out. In a 15-inch telescope PANSTARRS and its dual tails were brighter and better-defined; a tiny star-like nucleus peeped through the gases and dust concentrated in the its head. Very beautiful.

A morning topped off by the crescent moon is never wasted. Photo: Bob King

On to Comet Lemmon. I didn’t see it until 4 a.m. when dawn’s first light had already put its pale stamp on the eastern sky. I found it with difficulty in binoculars as a small, dim soft patch of light below the lower left star in the Square of Pegasus VERY low in the northeastern sky. It’s about as bright as PANSTARRS but low altitude and the onset of twilight combined to make it look fainter. In the scope, Lemmon was a big pale green fuzzball with a hint of a tail pointing southwest. Care to find it yourself? Here’s a map.

Wherever you are, enjoy the coming nights. If the moon’s your thing, an even thinner crescent will rise an hour before sunrise tomorrow in the east. Check for northern lights before you turn in tonight and use the map from yesterday’s blog to try your luck at Comet PANSTARRS … one last time.