Rooftop Aurora

[saturn5]

From the display on 3rd September.

Clouded out for most of the night,in fact i had given up seeing anything.Just stuck my head out into the garden on the off chance that a clear patch might show.

Eventually i got lucky with this shot but a few minutes later the clouds blew in again and covered everything.

Not a great location but its the view from my garden,with all the cloud about i couldnt be bothered going out.

[Lorne]

Thanks for sharing Stewart. Aurora from the comfort of your doorstep!!

[WaveSoarer]

Oh, that's very nice indeed. Incredibly bright too.

[LukeSkywatcher]

Very nice curtains there.

I read on online newsletter today from Astronomy Ireland and they predict that the aurora are going to start putting on some wonderful displays over the next few yrs across the British Isles due to the increase of solar activity.

I wont hold my breath.

Next week i am off to a star party and Pete Lawrence is giving a lecture on the aurora, so if this is true what i read today then i'm sure Pete can probably confirm it next week.

I hope its true.

[saturn5]

Well Paul,they could be right.The peak of the solar cycle is due sometime in the next year so and there are always good displays a couple of years either side of the peak

so if the sun does deliver some strong CME's then who knows,we could well get some superb displays.

Every solar cycle there are on average four KP 9 storms,thats the huge ones that can spark aurora as far south as France and beyond.

There have been none so far coming up to this peak.Also on average there are 100 KP8 storms every cycle and i dont think there have been any of those either so this is either the lull before the storm or

this cycle peak is going to be much weaker than predicted.It has already been downgraded from one of the strongest in decades so maybe Astronomy Ireland have some inside info on what the sun will do over the next couple of years.

Were all certainly hoping for big things and know roughly when the cycle will peak but its all in the hands of the sun as to how wonderful and how frequent the displays will be.

[Lorne]

Very nice curtains there.

I read on online newsletter today from Astronomy Ireland and they predict that the aurora are going to start putting on some wonderful displays over the next few yrs across the British Isles due to the increase of solar activity.

I wont hold my breath.

Next week i am off to a star party and Pete Lawrence is giving a lecture on the aurora, so if this is true what i read today then i'm sure Pete can probably confirm it next week.

I hope its true.

Paul,

Even if the activity increases, there will still be clouds to contend with first!!

[LukeSkywatcher]

Fingers crossed that in the next few yrs we here in the British Isles get a few really nice displays.

KP9 is HUGE and i didnt know they can reach as far south as France.

There is hope yet for all of the British Isles.

[LukeSkywatcher]

Paul,

Even if the activity increases, there will still be clouds to contend with first!!

Ain't that the damn truth.

[saturn5]

Fingers crossed that in the next few yrs we here in the British Isles get a few really nice displays.

KP9 is HUGE and i didnt know they can reach as far south as France.

There is hope yet for all of the British Isles.

Check out the Carrington event on wiki.

The strongest solar flare on record hit in 1859.Aurora were seen in the caribbean.We are overdue a "biggy" and this solar cycle is vey similar to cycle 10 when tis event happened.

Would be brilliant to see,on the minus side it would probably fry everything on the planet and end our use of mobile phones,internet,tv etc for a while.The world would be in utter chaos.