[Vision2020] Auroras over Moscow

nebar nanc3296 at uidaho.edu
Sun Aug 8 17:18:14 PDT 2004


On Sun, 2004-08-08 at 08:33, DonaldH675 at aol.com wrote:
> Hi Jasper,
>  
> This is going to seem like a silly question - and I guess it is - but
> was it just dumb luck that you were able to get these pictures?  Do
> you live in an area that provides a wide vista of the northern sky? 
> We live out in rural Latah County but kind of in a little valley with
> ridges to the North and south of us so we can see the heavens
> literally, and the eastern horizon but despite the fact that I am
> frequently up fairly late at night I haven't seen such a wonderful
> display.  I would really like my grandchildren to have a chance to see
> this *magic.*  
> Is it the case that there is no advance warning - the A.B. just
> appears?  Do you keep an eye on solar flares and other solar activity
> as an indication that you might get A.B.?  Is there a time of year
> that makes it more likely than other times of the year?
> Thanks for your help in answering these questions.
> Rose Huskey
>  
> "One cannot level one's moral lance at every evil in the universe.
> There are just too many of them. But you can do something, and the
> difference between doing something and doing nothing is everything."
> Daniel Berrigan
> 
> 

As Cynthia Nichols pointed out, the site www.spaceweather.com is a
wonderful aid in forecasting auroras and other events (like the meteor
shower that will peak on Wednesday and Thursday!). 

I also have solar filters for both of my telescopes (3" and 10"), and do
keep an eye on large sunspots and flares. The sun is very dynamic, you
just can't normally watch it without burning through your retinas!
*sizzle*

I have only recently begun imaging the sun, and the picture on the
aurora page is the first one that has actually come out decently. 

Big auroras only happen once or twice per year around here, though I
must admit the camera brought out a lot of color that was invisible to
the eye. However, last October (I want to say the 27th?) two days before
the largest solar flare in recorded history (~x22 -- but it was
cloudy!!) erupted, a slightly smaller ejection slammed into the
ionosphere and made a display that was seen in Texas and Florida! I went
out to the UI golf course and laid in a ditch (it was quite cold and
windy) shivering to the bone... It was VERY WORTH IT!! The colors were
so bright you could see multicolored shadows dancing on the ground, and
it was hard to take it all in because if you looked over here you would
miss something over there... Red, green, and blue beams, curtains,
whisps and flickers... I was a little bummed at the time, because my
camera was broken and I was unable to take any pictures! But mostly, I
was in awe :c)

        Cheers!
               Ms. Jasper Nance

 


--------------------------
"On ne nait pas femme: on le devient. Aucun destin biologique,
psychique, economique ne definit la figure que revet au sein de la
société la femelle humaine. [One is not born a woman: one becomes a
woman. No biological, psychological or economic destiny can determine
how the human female will appear in the society]" - (Simone de Beauvoir.
Le Deuxieme Sexe, 1949)
--------------------------
Jasper Nance 
Undergraduate Research Assistant 
Microelectronics Research and Communications Institute 
University of Idaho 
Moscow, Idaho 83844-1024 




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