both these images by J. Curtis. The second image is an aurora australis (southern lights). http://www.harmsy.freeuk.com/auroras.html I am quite excited today because of the Northern Lights or Aurora Borealis which were witnessed in many parts of the world yesterday. Here in Scotland, we saw a magnificent sight last night. I believe, from all learned accounts, that the same thing will occur on Halloween, and be ten times more astonishing. I cannot wait. I’m sure there will be others who will share in my enthusiasm for such magnificent displays. The colours of auroras vary depending on the height at which most of the collisions occur. Street lamps and 'neon' signs emit different colours of light due to the types of gas inside them. The same applies to auroras. If the predominant gas is oxygen, as it is above 300 km altitude, auroras will be red. This is rare, and only occurs at times of maximum solar activity. The most common colour is yellow or green, again caused by oxygen, but at lower altitudes. Nitrogen at about 100 km produces a red light often seen at the lower edges of auroras. The 29th was a great day indeed for sky watchers. A coronal mass ejection hit Earth’s magnetic field and triggered an extreme geomagnetic storm. In the United States, Northern Lights appeared as far south as Florida, New Mexico, Arizona and Texas. Fast-moving protons, accelerated by the recent explosions on the sun, are streaming past Earth. This is what scientists call a proton storm. Indeed, passengers and crew in commercial jets at high altitudes may receive low-level radiation exposure, something a kin to a chest x-ray, at this time. http://climate.gi.alaska.edu/Curtis/curtis.html
we were talking about this today in geography class! according to my teacher, they can be seen every 11 years or so in many more places than they usually are. as he put it, around that time the sun "burps" and has more energy released and the particles entering our atmosphere and change everything. they were really surprised because they werent expecting this to happen again for another 8 years...
To dream anything that you want to dream. That's the beauty of the human mind. To do anything that you want to do. That is the strength of the human will. To trust yourself to test your limits. That is the courage to succeed. -Bernard Edmonds
Swimchic is right, the Aurora Borealis has been sighted as far south as London:
The following article was published on the following day, Thursday, July 2, 1908, in “The Times” (London):
“The Aurora Borealis.”
The Aurora Borealis was very brilliant again last night. In the higher points in the suburbs from which London can be seen the sight was most unusual. All the outstanding features of the metropolis were silhouetted. Many people were in the suburban roads viewing the sight.”
“TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.”
“Sir,--I should be interested in hearing whether others of your readers observed the strange light in the sky which was seen here last night by my sister and myself. I do not know when it first appeared; we saw it between 12 o’clock (midnight) and 12:15 a.m. It was in the northeast and of a bright flame-colour like the light of sunrise or sunset. The sky, for some distance above the light, which appeared to be on the horizon, was blue as in the daytime, with bands of light cloud of a pinkish colour floating across it at intervals. Only the brightest stars could be seen in any part of the sky, though it was an almost cloudless night. It was possible to read large print indoors, and the hands of the clock in my room were quite distinct. An hour later, at about 1:30 a.m., the room was quite light, as if it had been day; the light in the sky was then more dispersed and was a fainter yellow. The whole effect was that of a night in Norway at about this time of year. I am in the habit of watching the sky, and have noticed the amount of light indoors at different hours of the night several times in the last fortnight. I have never at any time seen anything the least like this in England, and it would be interesting if any one would explain the cause of so unusual a sight.
Yours faithfully, Katharine Stephen. Godmanchester, Huntingdon, July 1.”
I found your picture today I swear I'll change my ways I just called to say I want you to come back home I just called to say, I love you come back home (Sheryl Crow and Kid Rock)
Stella Splendens December 22, 1985 - March 27, 2003 RIP
Posts: 1773 | Location: Devon, England | Registered: 02-04-02
Auroral activity will be at its maximum peak today. Highly active auroral displays will be visible over all of Alaska and low on the horizon in most of the northern U.S.
In the index on the top left of this page, click on the link to the Aurora Forcast to see,...the
Aurora Forecast For Your Region
Click on a location on the map at right to produce a forecast map customized for your longitude.
The forecast map will show the approximate Universal Time (UT) of greatest activity for your longitude, which occurs about an hour before local geomagnetic midnight. The approximate limits of aurora visibility for that time are marked in red.
Worldwide Aurora Forecast -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 90°W Longitude Maximum Auroral Activity 0530 Universal Time (UT) or Greenwich Mean Time
Posts: 4943 | Location: my enchanted forest | Registered: 09-14-02
On the lighter side: Northern lights, mostly called aurora, are the fluttering lights that can be observed in the sky over the northern-most parts of the world. A similar light is located over the southern-most parts of the world; it is called southern lights. Together the northern- and southern lights are called polar lights.
The Latin word for northern lights, Aurora Borealis, was first used in the early seventeenth century. Aurora was the goddess of dawn, i.e. red light of dawn, in ancient Roman mythology and Borealis means northerly. A translation would be the northerly light of dawn. The Latin word for southern lights is Aurora Australis, the southerly light of dawn. Also the Lappish word for auroras, guovsahas, is related to the light of dawn.
both these images by J. Curtis. The second image is an aurora australis (southern lights).
