PSA: aurora on red alert

MadBillMcMad
Full Member

Just realised. This event was October 10th and the previous major event was May 10th

I was in the highlands for the last one, staying in a wee hut thing in the middle of nowhere with perfect dark skies. Slept through it all. And it's very unkind of you to bring it up.

Anything forecast for tonight?

We'll be camping somewhere very dark and the forecast is cold and clear skies... ???

Not sure about the aurora but there’s a possibility of seeing a comet that’s not been visible from earth for 80,000 years…

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/oct/11/comet-a3-last-seen-in-neanderthal-times-could-be-sighted-from-uk-this-weekend

Comets don't look like that.

Quite pleased with these shots I took of a rather fancy Trek Madone on Thursday night here in the Lakes

View this post on Instagram

The Aurora was easily the best I’ve ever seen it, with bursts of colour clearly visible to the eye

Is it just me or does it seem to happen quite regularly now? People used to go on holiday to Iceland to go and see it. Now you can see it from the comfort of your garden numerous times throughout the year.

Well, twice this year. Previous to this I did once see it in Grizedale Forest about 18 years ago, but I wouldn’t call it regular

Is it just me or does it seem to happen quite regularly now

The sun goes through a cycle of about 11 years and we're around a maximum at the moment. That means it's chucking out a lot more charged particles so there's more chance of seeing an aurora.

Comets don’t look like that.

Really?

Really -  if a negative. Unless the Grauniadh has changed the photo, the one I saw looked like a cloud against a sunset/rise sky.

I recall comet Hale Bopp in the late 90s was easily visible, very much the classic shape and bright in the sky but aiui it's pretty unusual for a comet to be like that. For instance Halley was much heralded in the mid 80s but wasn't much to look at.

There was one with a spectacular tail visible with the naked eye in the 90’s - comet Hyakutake 1996??

Comet over Bennachie tonight.. another treat in the night sky. It's pretty faint but visible with the naked eye.

Phone camera picks it out nicely.

Really –  if a negative. Unless the Grauniadh has changed the photo, the one I saw looked like a cloud against a sunset/rise sky.

Seriously?

And yet the Guardian, BBC, and photos here,  all show a comet looking exactly „like that“.  As indeed is my recollection of Hale-Bopp from the 1990s. So while <i>some</i> comets don’t „look like that“, clearly some do.

Really lovely green aurora north of Inverness tonight, right across the horizon. Intense colour in big swirls

Basically nothing on the alert either., only went out for a listen to the cows and got a glimpse of something I thought was nothing, then it all kicked off!

Not a chance rest of UK with this big blanket of cloud that hasn't moved for over a week.

Yeah I was really surprised, it's super clear and really warm out tonight. We had 16c in the garden and it only dropped a little. Stars are crystal clear

Lights are all green but over a long horizon in big patches

Well, I've got me a tripod that has a smart phone holder, and downloaded the Samsung Raw photo app so I can do astro photos... and the weather has been shoot since. My fault folks !

red alert tonight,

It might go off tonight (Wednesday 3rd evening) check your cloud cover, check your channels.

https://aurorawatch.lancs.ac.uk

Pretty overcast here, but the Samsung Expert RAW App is ready to go

Mad in Wick the now

Just cleared enough for us to see it this evening - Kellie Castle in Fife.

Nice pad you've got there robola

Aye, but the staffing costs are ruining me.

Bump for tonight

https://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/articles/ckgwmr9ve10o

Meh wall to wall clouds and pishin doon here in Lochaber 

I dont think it came to much, I'm camping at Mabie and saw nowt here. 

Only got to yellow on the app here, nothing to see...