Northern Lights Alert
 

The earth's magnetic field tilted south this afternoon and this has been compounded by us getting hit by a small eruption from the sun. It isn't a big storm but there is a storm in progress and there might be lights in the north, though it is too bright to see them at present. If the storm keeps up and intensifies then they might be seen further south, though i'm not sure there is enough material coming towards us for it to get much better.

There is also the possibility of a repeat performance tomorrow night as another CME is incoming from the sun.

Again this isn't a big storm but it is worth a look just in case.

I saw them last night.

Yes its messing up my Ham radio!

Les :D

Where abouts in the UK are you?

I assume there's little chance of a Londoner seeing anything :(

He come's from Kirkbymuppetside, can't you read:D , i think a Londoner should be able to see them, it just depend's whether the Londoner still live's in London or not. I hope iv'e been of some assistance to you.:lol1:

Cheers, erm I think ;)

Roughly what time are we talking about for it to be dark enough? Midnight, one?

Geezer

North Yorkshire

Did anyone see them last night?

Geezer

don't think it ever got going last night but I suspect there is still one CME out there so it might arrive tonight. The other possibility is that it arrived last night but wasn't powerful enough to make an impression. Worth a quick look tonight but after that it looks like there is going to be at least a week with no chance. This isn't a great time of year or a great time in the sunspot cycle so we are doing well to have even a slight chance. As mentioned before this is nearly impossible to predict.

I had a look last night but by the time I went to bed it still wasn't dark enough (10.30pm) and I was too tired to stay up any later. Maybe if I have a snooze this afternoon I'll be able to stay up past 11pm - but I doubt it :rolleyes: Damn these late sunsets ;) :D

So call me a dumb ass...

Do I just need to go somewhere dark and look towards the north? or is there a best time to do this? 11pm 12am, 1am, 2am

And is this still likely to be going on tonight?

It isn't dumb at all as many people believe you can't see them at all from the UK. This is just a ploy by the Tourist Board in Alaska :-)

A recent thread discussed most of the details, with lots of links to very impressive UK photos:

http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/showthrea...orthern+lights

To be honest the chances for tonight are very, very low indeed but there may still be a CME out there which might hit us tonight.

It looks like the CME that was out there hit us during daylight hours today and so there should be pretty much zero chance of any lights tonight. It is also likely that this is the end of this particular little burst of activity and the sun is current pretty quiet so more activity is unlikely for a while.

All of this is a best guess of course, it is just so unpredictable, and even the people who predict this stuff for a living will only talk in terms of percentages.