Auroras

News Northern Lights Continue to Impress Lucky Viewers September 17, 2002 - This time some very unusual auroras. Read all about it at Space.com. Aurora Surprise Sky watchers in North America were surprised at the results of a geomagnetic storm on Tuesday night,Sept 3. Take a look at some of the pictures that were taken on that night at Sept.3-4,2002, Aurora Gallery Here's a couple of the pictures: Picture taken by Lyndon Anderson, near Bismarck, North Dakota, USA. Picture by Paul Wicklund in Colbert, Washington, USA The interplanetary magnetic field near Earth turned south and triggered a G2-class geomagnetic storm. Find out about these classes of geomagnetic storms and more at NOAA Space Weather Scales. The NOAA Space Weather Scales were introduced as a way to communicate to the general public the current and future space weather conditions and their possible effects on people and systems. For past news see The Archive

Many years ago now I witnessed a most incredible event in the sky. At the time I did not know that I was looking at an Aurora Australis. What I saw was curtains of green and red while I was putting out a late load of washing after being away on holidays. We found out a few days later that it was an aurora. This is the only time I have seen one. It is something that I'll never forget.
	Photo of Aurora Borealis, taken by T Eklund of Finland in March, 2001

A while ago I came across some information about a very active weekend for Aurora Borealis. As a result I developed this page for my own benefit and decided to put it here for your benefit.

Following is information that I gathered. For an explanation of the Solar Activity Monitor visit http://www.maj.com/sun/status.html

Just what is an aurora? The Macmillan Encyclopedia 2001 explains Aurora A display of diffuse changing coloured light seen high in the earth's atmosphere, often taking the form of streamers or drapery and usually green or red. Aurorae occur predominantly in polar regions when energetic charged particles from the sun become trapped in the earth's magnetic field. The rapidly moving particles interact with atoms and molecules in the upper atmosphere and cause them to emit light. In the N hemisphere they are called the Northern Lights. For more go to this page at www.space.com.

Solar X-rays: Geomagnetic Field:

From n3kl.org^NB

If pics above include "!" check out links below:

http://www.spaceweather.com/

Gives usually a pretty good overview of the sun's activity and also some estimates for auroral activity after the notable "eruptions" in the sun... but this place is not for serious real time aurora reports! It can give you a information about auroras in progress only during a long lasting storms!

Jan Alvestad's Solar Terrestrial Activity Report

Gives you all the same information about the sun's activity as the Spaceweather.com but is much more comprehensive and has also other info! During the aurora season use this place a lot!

Space

Lots of info about space

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