Jump to content

Thursday Northern Lights?


Recommended Posts

If you are into seeing the effects of the Solar wind, maybe spiced up with a dash of Coronal Mass Ejection, the next couple of of days could be for you. 

https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/news/g1-g3-watches-17-19-august-2022

G3_18Aug2022_0.jpg?itok=hVPjTZ7v

If you want less technical jargon and maybe a little more exciting language... 

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/solar-ejection-sun-earth-northern-lights-power-voltage-issues/

"cannibal" solar ejection heading straight for Earth could bring northern lights as far south as Illinois and trigger power voltage issues" 

 

Edited by JoeSchmuckatelli
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Admiral Fluffy said:

:(

I'm not in Illinois.

I got all excited in '91 thinking that during a solar storm I'd get to see them in Seattle.  Long cold night of drinking beers and staring at the sky... for nothing.  

...well, I did see a shooting star.  Long green streak across the sky.  That was fun.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I may be late to the party, but at 8/18/2022 after work I found the article below.  Since I live in the Cincinnati area, I jumped at the chance to find the northern lights.

 

Of course, neither this article nor any of the other ones I found about this gave any indication as to where specifically to look. All I knew was to look at a high-elevation area with low light pollution, and since the map below shows the high activity visibility line SOUTH of the city, of course looked there. 

 

aurora-1660843126.jfif.jpeg?resize=660,3

  • Like I said, nothing more specific on the location than this.

 

Unfortunately, during my trip Thursday night from 2100 - 2340 EDT, all the good spots south of Cincinnati were either in residential neighborhoods, closed-off parks, or on private property. I thought about giving up, but then the next day my supervisor at work told me that he had heard that they would show up "for the next few nights." After work that day, I phoned someone from the Cincinnati Astronomical Society and he told me:

  • I should look NORTH of the city, along the north horizon
  • The best place to look is Hueston Woods State Park - or any other state parks north of Cincinnati
  • Expect the lights to show up between 0300 and 0400.
    • But I think I should have pressed him for a time zone, since other article said to expect the lights to start showing up at 2100 EDT.

 

When I got to the park at 0315 Saturday morning, all the trees were blocking the horizon and I couldn't find a good place to stop and look from my car. After some driving around to no avail, I left the park at approximately 0345 and found a spot beside the road near some farmland to look north - but no auroras. Although I did see some lights on the horizon, I didn't really think it was anything particularly noteworthy. More specifically, they seemed like the residual lights you see from a far-away town (maybe Eaton). I then gave up and drove back to Cincinnati and went back to bed.

 

To sum it all up, both attempts to see the northern lights near Cincinnati failed. 

 

If anyone has pictures of the midwestern northern lights, I'm sure we'd all be more than happy to see them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This thread is quite old. Please consider starting a new thread rather than reviving this one.

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...