KP6 - aurora!!

[george7378]

Enyone with a clear sky should go outside now - the current KP reading is 6 - definitely good for aurora in the UK.

3-day Estimated Planetary Kp-index Monitor

[Glen]

Wow, thanks for the heads up, hopefully someone will see it.

Glen

[WhiteShiva]

You should have more chance of seeing it as we get closer to midnight, but here in Newcastle it's gales and rain. Don't think we'll see much from up here!

[Kp6]

Good shout George, was too cloudy here last night.

Was anyone lucky enough to catch a gap in the clouds?

[george7378]

I got some small openings, but I couldn't see any aurora.

[saturn5]

I got some small openings, but I couldn't see any aurora.

The aurora oval is currently rather far north at the moment.70deg N

Last night it was down to 60deg N,would have been a good display,i got a 15 min look at a narrow strip of it around midnight last night when the clouds cleared a little.I posted a photo of it ,not much to look at though.

Current aurora level is only KP 2 which is not enough for me too see anything at 59N.

Will have a look between 10 and midnight though because you never know.

Stewart.

[saturn5]

Aurora oval is down to 60deg again.Had a look over Orkney and there is a faint glow of aurora low on the horizon.

[garethmob]

is the aurora fully britan during these higher KP levels or just the north? sorry for my sillyness

[george7378]

is the aurora fully britan during these higher KP levels or just the north? sorry for my sillyness

The storm of the weekend didn't produce any aurora directly over Britain - just over the northern areas. It was still visible low on the horizon from Britain though.

[Kp6]

is the aurora fully britan during these higher KP levels or just the north? sorry for my sillyness

This map offers a representation of how far the southern edge of the aurora is expected to go during geomagnetic disturbances.

An overhead aurora in London would require a kp index of 9. For Inverness it would be kp6 and Newcastle, Kp7..etc.

However it is possible to see as far as 5 degrees north of your location, enabling a viewer in Newcastle to see the auroral band low on the horizon during a kp5 storm, and a viewer located on the Isle of Lewis to see aurora low on the horizon during a kp3 disturbance.

The frequency of geomagnetic disruptions has plummeted significantly in the last 3 years as the sun has entered an unexpected period of slumber. The last time we had a storm measuring kp7 was April 2010, the last kp8 storm occurred During December '06 and the grand daddy of solar storms, a 'kp9' last occurred in October 2003.

[Trull]

OK - here's what I saw from West Linton, Scottish Borders, last night:

Also a brief timelapse on YouTube:

[saturn5]

Looks like light pillars to me,not aurora,and also the fact you have cloud behind it would indicate its not aurora.

[Kp6]

By last night the storm has subsided somewhat to kp3, there was still a few strong pulses but I don't imagine the NL would have been visible any further south than perhaps 58N.

It's worth making a note in your diary for the 3rd-4th of March. That is when the coronal hole that was predominantly responsible for this weeks aurora completes it's rotation around the sun once more. During the 27 days it could shrink or grow in size. Whether we get a geomagnetic storm as intense as the one we just experienced I'm not too sure.

Kp4 I would guess, certainly good enough for you Stuart.

Here's how this coronal hole has looked over the last 3 rotations.

December 12th - kp3

January 7th - kp5

February 4th - kp6 (enhanced by the effects from a weak coronal mass ejection)

[Trull]

@saturn5 , yep interesting! It was so warm at ground level (10degC) that I'd discounted ice pillars. The other odd thing was that the pillars were over farmland - but of course I guess there is the "sun dog" reflection which might have allowed an oblique angle.

Ah well - I'll keep bashing away. Its still an interesting sky phenomena.

[saturn5]

@saturn5 , yep interesting! It was so warm at ground level (10degC) that I'd discounted ice pillars. The other odd thing was that the pillars were over farmland - but of course I guess there is the "sun dog" reflection which might have allowed an oblique angle.

Ah well - I'll keep bashing away. Its still an interesting sky phenomena.

Its very interesting indeed and something i've never seen yet.

[tuc]

Trull,

I lived in northern Canada for two years during an auroral peak and witnessed displays at least 2 or 3 times a week. I am 99% sure that your photo does, indeed, show an auroral display.

If you look at the rays in the photograph you will see "hot spots" where a portion of the same ray is quite brighter than the rest of it. This is typical of pulsating aurorae. Also note the subtle colour variances--I can see pale red, green, and yellow.

Aurorae can be bright enough to be seen through thin cloud. (I noticed in your video that only the large, dark looming cloud completely obscured the rays.) There also appears to be a few stars present in your photograph. If they are stars and not just dust, then the cloud must have been thin enough.

Finally, there is a "magnetized" look to the rays. I can't really explain this one. It just looks like other ray-type aurorae I've seen. It's easier to confirm them with your own eyes because they are usually dancing around. Were you able to see them pulsating? (It's not clear if you could see them yourself or if they just appeared on the photo.)

Types of aurorae:

[Trull]

Well, this is getting really interesting - now that I've seen a really clear photo of Light Pillars from Anchorage I'm inclined to be thankful towards Saturn5 for the ice crystal hint. The pillars came and went over a period of about 15minutes, over a total active time of 90 minutes, I reckon this is the different layers of crystals dropping or being slowly blown through.

[saturn5]

Trull,

I lived in northern Canada for two years during an auroral peak and witnessed displays at least 2 or 3 times a week. I am 99% sure that your photo does, indeed, show an auroral display.

If you look at the rays in the photograph you will see "hot spots" where a portion of the same ray is quite brighter than the rest of it. This is typical of pulsating aurorae. Also note the subtle colour variances--I can see pale red, green, and yellow.

Aurorae can be bright enough to be seen through thin cloud. (I noticed in your video that only the large, dark looming cloud completely obscured the rays.) There also appears to be a few stars present in your photograph. If they are stars and not just dust, then the cloud must have been thin enough.

Finally, there is a "magnetized" look to the rays. I can't really explain this one. It just looks like other ray-type aurorae I've seen. It's easier to confirm them with your own eyes because they are usually dancing around. Were you able to see them pulsating? (It's not clear if you could see them yourself or if they just appeared on the photo.)

Types of aurorae:

[ATTACH]50508[/ATTACH]

We had a thread about this around xmas time,someone posted a photo of what they thought was aurora and it looked almost identical to this and again the thing that makes my virtually certain this isnt aurora is the fact that the only sign of aurora at my location of 58.5N

was a faint green glow, low on the horizon.No beams of light or wavy curtain effect or pulsating aurora.Also the fact that the KP index was only 3 which means it is to weak to have been visible down in the Scottish Borders.

So given that fact i'm 100% sure it isnt aurora,coupled with the fact it just doesnt look like aurora,wish it were and i would be delighted to be proved wrong because i want as many people in the UK as possible to see them because when they do they wont forget them or be dissappointed by them.