Aurora in U.S., visible around 12 midnight EST on the East Coast

[Keanumoreira]

An aurora is like wavy colors in the sky caused by reflection of light off particles in the air _{or something along those lines...}

 

Not quite. Auroras are caused when a solar flare strikes the Earth. The resulting radiation becomes trapped in the Earths atmosphere, and when these radiation particles slam into the gas particles up in the atmosphere, they cause the Aurora lights. The color of the lights depends on what gas particles the radiation ones slam into.

[CommanderCrazy]

TYVM Keanu.

[antonkr]

What days are they visable at? I live in New Jersey will I be able to see it there? I don't really think so.

[Keanumoreira]

TYVM Keanu.

 

Your welcome. :biggrin: :geek:

[Bontazor]

The west coast doesn't get any love. :laugh:

[Deleted1848331User]

oh yeah? we got an eclipse last year here! It burns you if you go outside during one though.....

 

 

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i live in AZ O.O

[Illiad86]

mmm I'd love to live there...Midwest sucks for astronomy...stupid Jet Stream :( But...too hot in AZ lol and too many bugs and snakes :P

 

Ah here's a good explanation:

The aurora is a near daily occurrence somewhere on Earth and there is almost always an aurora in the sky (both day and night, but in the daytime it is out-shined by sunlight). However, the following factors can increase your chance of seeing them:

 

* Time of Day: Because the intensity of the light in an aurora is low, it can only be seen at night. Furthermore, the most active and brilliant displays usually occur near midnight. Therefore, the best time to observe the aurora is, on average, between 11 p.m. and 2 a.m.

* Season: In the northern hemisphere, the best time to view an aurora is during the winter. At latitudes where auroras are common, it is typically light all night in the summer—so you rarely have warm weather and a good aurora. Furthermore, in most polar regions, the weather tends to be clear during the middle of winter—so often the best time to see an aurora is also the coldest.

* Sun Rotation: It takes the sun 27 days to rotate one time around its axis, so 27 days after an aurora display, the active region on the sun that caused the aurora will face Earth again. Although solar activity in that region on the sun might have decreased in the mean time, there is still a greater chance of aurora 27 days after the last period of increased auroral activity.

* Solar Activity: Auroral activity also correlates with the activity of the sun, which changes according to an 11-year solar cycle. In general, the more active the sun, the greater the number of auroras. Thus, auroral displays are more likely around the time of the solar maximum (when solar activity is high). Aurora displays remain frequent and strong for several years around solar maximum. During solar maximum, the auroras are not only more frequent and more active, but they also can come further south away from the poles (it should be noted, however, that bright and active auroras can be observed at any time during the solar cycle).

 

Weather, the full moon, and light pollution also affect your ability to see aurora. Your best bet for seeing aurora is to get as close as you can to the position of the auroral oval, and as far away as you can from sources of artificial light and overcast skies. Tips on viewing the aurora can be found at NOAA's Space Environment Center.

 

It's very very rare, for example, Texas to see them, unless the Sun belted out one heck of a flare. The Carrington Even in the late 1800s, that was nuts.

 

On September 1–2, 1859, the largest recorded geomagnetic storm occurred. Aurorae were seen around the world, most notably over the Caribbean; also noteworthy were those over the Rocky Mountains that were so bright, the glow awoke gold miners, who began preparing breakfast because they thought it was morning.

 

Telegraph systems all over Europe and North America failed. Telegraph pylons threw sparks and telegraph paper spontaneously caught fire. Some telegraph systems appeared to continue to send and receive messages despite having been disconnected from their power supplies.

 

From August 28, 1859 until September 2, numerous sunspots and solar flares were observed on the sun. Just before noon on September 1, the British astronomer Richard Carrington observed the largest flare, which caused a massive coronal mass ejection (CME) to travel directly toward Earth, taking 18 hours. This is remarkable because such a journey normally takes three to four days. It moved so quickly because an earlier CME had cleared its way.

 

Supposedly, these types of events happen every 500 years or so. So the 2012 newbs can stfu...:P But, it's just like Earth weather...they said now that solar maximum will be in 2013, and be very weak. Few years ago, it was gonna happen in 2012, they said it was going to be crazy. So, who knows?

 

http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/

 

awesome site...NASA's new telescope for observing the Sun. Gets a lot crazier pictures than SOHO. Poopies..wish bf wasn't working today :( Nice day to observe sunspots...not very many on there though.

[Bontazor]

Scorpions > Tarantulas > Lizards > Anything else

 

 

In terms of my order of favoritism.

 

Too bad the region I live in is too bright. Californian population = ;_;