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Happy First Sighting of Manatees by Columbus (1493)! 💧🐘
Aurora Borealis
- Thread starter Glenn MacGrady
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That used to be a favorite camp for us. The fire wiped out the forest and the hotel/outfitter operation. How’s the area recovering? It was a beautiful river to float.
I haven’t been in decades but Chip was there recently on his Michigan swing.
We are having a very active Aurora season this year. I'm at 68* north, above the arctic in Norway and you see the lights every day. As soon as it gets dark (and it gets dark around 2:30pm now at the start of december) you will see a faint but long streak of aurora all over the sky from east to west. Some days it will start to move around a little bit and all of a sudden it gets much much brighter and sharper and starts whiplashing all over the sky in green, white and purple. This season we've had those powerful displays a couple of times a week at least. On the news they said that there was something special this year with the solar activity cycle that was peaking and that this will cause great displays of aurora even far down south. I'm no expert but from what I've gathered the aurora is a phenomenon that occurs at it's strongest when ejected particles from the sun hit's the earths magnetic field when it also hits it's cycle, the two must coincide somehow.
You can get a good aurora forecast at spaceweather.com.
It says that there is a potentially strong solar wind hitting the Earth on Dec. 7th or 8th.
If there is a massive Aurora then note it in your calendar and keep an eye out about 28 days later. This is about how long it takes for the sun to complete a revolution on it's own axis in relation to the earth. If the sun has a spot that is active over time then 27 or 28 days is about the time it takes for this spot to be facing us again.
I took this with my crappy phone camera a few days ago. As I was sitting by the campfire that night the aurora flared up very strong all over the sky 3 or four times before I went inside my tent. Even though I've seen it thousands of times through my life, a strong Aurora display is jaw dropping. The speed with which it moves, pulsates, whips and twists is absolutely wild. I woke up during the night and from within the tent it looked like the sun was about to rise but it was only 4am then and the sun doesn't rise before 10 am now. In fact, the sun will not rise at all after december 7 until about january 7.
You can get a good aurora forecast at spaceweather.com.
It says that there is a potentially strong solar wind hitting the Earth on Dec. 7th or 8th.
If there is a massive Aurora then note it in your calendar and keep an eye out about 28 days later. This is about how long it takes for the sun to complete a revolution on it's own axis in relation to the earth. If the sun has a spot that is active over time then 27 or 28 days is about the time it takes for this spot to be facing us again.
I took this with my crappy phone camera a few days ago. As I was sitting by the campfire that night the aurora flared up very strong all over the sky 3 or four times before I went inside my tent. Even though I've seen it thousands of times through my life, a strong Aurora display is jaw dropping. The speed with which it moves, pulsates, whips and twists is absolutely wild. I woke up during the night and from within the tent it looked like the sun was about to rise but it was only 4am then and the sun doesn't rise before 10 am now. In fact, the sun will not rise at all after december 7 until about january 7.
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I live at 64 degrees North Latitude in interior Alaska. We get to see great Auroras sometimes. This winter it has been hit or miss because of cloudy snowy weather, if it’s clear, being outside waiting in -30 degrees F. is something I just don’t do much of anymore. When we were younger we had five Morgan horses that we fed many times each twenty four hours to keep their internal fires burning in the cold. The midnight feeding was the best for viewing the Aurora. Standing in the middle of a small herd of warm horses, watching the northern lights, smelling that good horsey smell is a cherished memory.
It is great to have a friend that works outside on night shift that will call you with any really good displays. Of course by the time you get bundled up to fight the cold the display can be over.
It is great to have a friend that works outside on night shift that will call you with any really good displays. Of course by the time you get bundled up to fight the cold the display can be over.
After working in SE Alaska I started to have dreams about the Northern Lights.
I was always driving north on the Dempster Highway or one like it in a VW bus.
It was so beautiful I would just drive all night.
I was always driving north on the Dempster Highway or one like it in a VW bus.
It was so beautiful I would just drive all night.
My advice to someone hoping to see the aurora on a trip is to drink a lot of water before bed.
Birch,
Nice imagery. I used to pack hoses and mules when I was younger. Nothing like getting up to piss under a full moon and throwing a flake of hay or listening for the bell mare. The soft knicker in the dark, the stillness. It is how you get to know horses and mules is to live with them 24 hours a day. I used to jump my two saddle mules into a trailer and head for Oregon for trail rides. It was a day and a half to get there. In the evening, I would look for a National Forest to pull over in and find a place to camp. I would string a high line between two trees and tie them with a halter and lead rope. Then I would roll out a bed roll next to them.
Nice imagery. I used to pack hoses and mules when I was younger. Nothing like getting up to piss under a full moon and throwing a flake of hay or listening for the bell mare. The soft knicker in the dark, the stillness. It is how you get to know horses and mules is to live with them 24 hours a day. I used to jump my two saddle mules into a trailer and head for Oregon for trail rides. It was a day and a half to get there. In the evening, I would look for a National Forest to pull over in and find a place to camp. I would string a high line between two trees and tie them with a halter and lead rope. Then I would roll out a bed roll next to them.
when I lived in Alaska they appeared almost every night. Especially cool on my drive into work. I’ve seen them here in Michigan as well, typically in the UP. Never while paddling, hoping to witness them on a paddling trip
Upcoming Northern Lights to be the strongest in 20 years
Sunspot observations, a crucial predictor of the probability of seeing the Northern Lights, also known as the Aurora Borealis, have substantially grown since the end of 2022.
interestingengineering.com
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Since this got brought up again, and the forecast is for good sighting into 2024, I'm wondering if anyone has a website that can give one a heads-up as to possible viewing dates? Usually, when they do occur near me, I only hear about it the morning after. If there's a site folks can check for potential viewing, that would be a big help.
That's all for now. Take care and until next time...be well.
snapper
That's all for now. Take care and until next time...be well.
snapper
If you don’t always feel like looking up the forecast, there’s an app you can download called Aurora. I wouldn’t rely on it entirely, but it’ll notify you when they’re going to happen and what the odds are. It also has links and forecast info in the app. Again, I wouldn’t rely too heavily on it, but it has worked for me in the past
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@ErktheRed - Thanks for the information. I finally relented and now have a smartphone; although I'll admit I know very little about how to use all it's capabilities. I'll look up the app and see what I can find. I also appreciate your offer to give me a heads up when something comes up. That will certainly be a big help.
That's all for now. Take care and until next time....be well.
snapper
That's all for now. Take care and until next time....be well.
snapper
Aurora visible in USA tonight.
https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news...tonight-aurora-borealis-new-england-forecast/
https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news...tonight-aurora-borealis-new-england-forecast/
Pretty well lit up Maine last nigh if you could find a dark sky unpolluted. Sebago Lake at the intersection of 35 and 11.https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/aurora-viewline-tonight-and-tomorrow-night-experimental?fbclid=IwAR3wkFd2NZLhrFwfqDzPexE0iFaIFJoXMKjsXEo7z0m9rPYaGO1nURdTx50 
We just had a red glow on the horizon, but a beautiful night to be out looking at the stars.
Jim
Jim
A week ago there was an extreme display of aurora across the sky in northern Norway. I'm at 68 degrees north so it's common to see the aurora but this one was evidently something else. I was in southern Europe that night but landed back home the night after. I heard ordinary people who usually don't pay much attention to what's going on in the sky talk about it with a tone of fear and superstition. They were saying that they had never seen anything like it and that now there is surely something going on with the climate or some other things not known, but still.
A strong aurora here is usually green and white, sometimes with a little hint of reddish purple. People are saying that the last big one was bright yellow, orange, red, lot's of purplish and greenish white and very bright and fast moving. I found this clip showing some of it before it peaked later that night. It's shot about half a mile from me.
A strong aurora here is usually green and white, sometimes with a little hint of reddish purple. People are saying that the last big one was bright yellow, orange, red, lot's of purplish and greenish white and very bright and fast moving. I found this clip showing some of it before it peaked later that night. It's shot about half a mile from me.
I checked my view outside several times from my home in the western Adirondack region. I know that you have to hit the timing just right, as I have in the past seen very nice displays that only lasted a half hour or so then disappeared. Last night there may have been an extremely faint glow along the northern horizon, but not really anything of note.
I've only seen them once; when paddling across hannah bay. They were faint but it was still really cool to wake up under the northern lights.
My neighbor friend is a great photographer and took this photo last year on the Delta Clearwater River. The Clearwater River starts in a huge spring and stays open at 39F all year unless temperatures get to -40F and below.
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