"Col" wrote in message
...

"Jim Webster" wrote in message
...

"Col" wrote in message
...

I've never seen them in the UK, and I am not all that much further north
than you, I think we tend to be unlucky with the cloud


Well I'm glad somebody else have never seen them in the UK,
perhaps it's more hit and miss than I thought.

All the reports of 'Wonderful aurora from Lands End' were really
annoying me, why wasn't I seeing it when I am so much further north?


I don't know the statistical frequency of aurora, but our local astro-club
has a member who emails round where there is an alert. The problem is

1) Certainly in summer, by the time it is dark enough to see the aurora,
rational people are in bed.
2) In winter then you can see aurora earlier in the evening it is probably
raining or at least over cast.
3) A very high proportion of the population live in areas that suffer from
light pollution so that they miss the fainter traces of the lesser
spectacular aurora that you would see if you were in a rural area and
further north.

In Iceland we got so that we never bothered going out into the cold to watch
'black and white' aurora, but did go and see it when it was in colour

Jim Webster

On Fri, 31 Oct 2003 22:36:14 -0000, "Col"
wrote:


Well I'm glad somebody else have never seen them in the UK,
perhaps it's more hit and miss than I thought.

All the reports of 'Wonderful aurora from Lands End' were really
annoying me, why wasn't I seeing it when I am so much further north?

Col

Another Lancashire resident here Col and a fairly keen amateur
astronomer, and I've never seen them either. Since the internet of
course, it is much easier to be aware of the fluctuations in "space
weather", and to be alert for aurorae, but magnetic storms that are
strong enough to create shows that are (a) far enough south and (b)
bright enough to overcome light pollution must be quite rare.

I found a web page last night that listed 26 solar flares that had
been moderate or strong, since 1976. That's more than I thought there
would be, but it's not a very frequent event on an annual basis,
especially when our weather usually does the dirty on us.

If I understand it correctly, solar flares aren't the only source of
aurorae, coronal holes do the same job but are usually less intense.
There are other factors in the production of a display too, which come
from the condition of the earth's magnetic field.

Regarding which direction to look, in a weakish display it's
definitely north, but this week people were talking about seeing glows
of all kinds, in all directions - so if it's a major display, it can
be all over the sky. That I think is a once-in-a-decade or less event
for our latitude, which makes the cloud and rain of the last few days
even more frustrating!!

The timing of the depression was about as accurate as the rain that
swept over west Cornwall at the time of the 1999 solar eclipse!! Last
night, when the cloud cleared unexpectedly here at about 5pm,
co-incided almost exactly with the time the magnetometer data went
back into the usual green after 48 hours of almost continuous amber
and red......

Difficult not to be biitter!

Ah well, I now list two astro holidays in my list of things to do
before I get too old .......
1. A Total eclipse trip - maybe 2006 in Turkey
2. An aurora trip - North Norway or Iceland one spring or autumn? I
wonder how long you have to stay to have a good chance of seeing
something.


Paul
Leigh
Lancs

On Fri, 31 Oct 2003 20:57:59 +0000, Mike Humberston
wrote:

Nick Humphries wrote:

I know what aurora are, but I don't know what to look for in order to predict
when to watch out for spectacular light shows. Anyone here able to give me a
dummies guide of websites to check and how to use that info to correctly time
when to stand outside in the middle of nowhere for a few hours?

http://www.dcs.lancs.ac.uk/iono/aurorawatch/ for current
geomagnetic activity and aurora likelihood as measured at
York in the UK. Gives advice on how to interpret the data.

http://www.dan.sp-agency.ca/www/rtoval.htm for the real-time
auroral oval around the North Pole. This indicates where
auroras are likely to be seen.

http://www.spacew.com/www/auroras.html for recent aurora
sighting reports.


Despite having been delighted to see my first aurora this week, I have
mixed feeling about auroral activity since it has an adverse effect on
one my hobbies - Medium Wave radio listening.

If there isn't too much auroral activity I can usually hear, when a
darkness paths exists, some of the stronger east coast US and Canadian
stations on Medium Wave. However, around Christmas-time 1997 when the
sunspot cycle was close to minimum there was virtually no auroral oval
at all. Result: the best conditions ever. I heard medium wave stations
in Alaska, British Columbia, Alberta, Washington State, Utah and other
places much further west than ever before (or since).


--
Paul

In article , Paul Richardson
writes
snip

Ah well, I now list two astro holidays in my list of things to do
before I get too old .......
1. A Total eclipse trip - maybe 2006 in Turkey
2. An aurora trip - North Norway or Iceland one spring or autumn? I
wonder how long you have to stay to have a good chance of seeing
something.

I thought you would get the best chance of seeing them in mid-winter -
when it's dark all day!


--
Surfer!
If you really want to send me email then use:
five_cats at uk2 dot net

On Sat, 1 Nov 2003 12:36:58 +0000, Five Cats
wrote:


2. An aurora trip - North Norway or Iceland one spring or autumn? I
wonder how long you have to stay to have a good chance of seeing
something.

I thought you would get the best chance of seeing them in mid-winter -
when it's dark all day!


Sure, but spring and autumn IIRC are more active times for aurora for
some reason best known to experts. Also be quite nice to see something
of the scenery in daylight too - even take in a bit of skiing maybe??

Paul

On Sat, 01 Nov 2003 12:58:54 +0000, Paul Richardson in
news:news:qdb7qv0qeeod9e6rtqmu5vnou9596b32ak@4ax. com wrote:
On Sat, 1 Nov 2003 12:36:58 +0000, Five Cats
wrote:

2. An aurora trip - North Norway or Iceland one spring or autumn? I
wonder how long you have to stay to have a good chance of seeing
something.

I thought you would get the best chance of seeing them in mid-winter -
when it's dark all day!

Sure, but spring and autumn IIRC are more active times for aurora for
some reason best known to experts. Also be quite nice to see something
of the scenery in daylight too - even take in a bit of skiing maybe??

It would appear that question (why winter isn't a good as spring and
autumn) is still puzzling some, though part of the answer is known. This
page gives a few ideas:

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2...roraseason.htm

--
Mike posted to uk.sci.weather 01/11/2003 13:26:39 UTC
Coleraine
Seeking information about the Internet and the way it works? - Subscribe to
news:uk.net.beginners

"Paul Richardson" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 1 Nov 2003 12:36:58 +0000, Five Cats
wrote:


2. An aurora trip - North Norway or Iceland one spring or autumn? I
wonder how long you have to stay to have a good chance of seeing
something.

I thought you would get the best chance of seeing them in mid-winter -
when it's dark all day!


Sure, but spring and autumn IIRC are more active times for aurora for
some reason best known to experts. Also be quite nice to see something
of the scenery in daylight too - even take in a bit of skiing maybe??


if you like cross country skiing, or merely walking, Spring (May) in the
North west Fjords of Iceland is well worth a fortnight of anyones life.

We got good aurora as well

Jim Webster

Paul

I saw them half a dozen times during my 10 years in Scotland,(many nights
spent at bothies in the Cairngorms at least 60 moles from the nearest city)
but have never seen them in England. I even saw them whilst driving on the
motorway between Edinburgh and Perth, despite the headlights of oncoming
cars.

Trevor
East Yorkshire



"Nick Humphries" wrote in message
...
I know what aurora are, but I don't know what to look for in order to
predict
when to watch out for spectacular light shows. Anyone here able to give me
a
dummies guide of websites to check and how to use that info to correctly
time
when to stand outside in the middle of nowhere for a few hours?
--
+-------------------------------------------------+
| Nick Humphries, , Reading, UK |
| Little Fluffy Clouds (timelapse MPEGs + webcam) |
| http://obdwww.egyptus.co.uk/webcam.htm |
+-------------------------------------------------+


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http://www.dcs.lancs.ac.uk/iono/aurorawatch/

The graph on the above site may be useful

Trevor








"Nick Humphries" wrote in message
...
I know what aurora are, but I don't know what to look for in order to
predict
when to watch out for spectacular light shows. Anyone here able to give me
a
dummies guide of websites to check and how to use that info to correctly
time
when to stand outside in the middle of nowhere for a few hours?
--
+-------------------------------------------------+
| Nick Humphries, , Reading, UK |
| Little Fluffy Clouds (timelapse MPEGs + webcam) |
| http://obdwww.egyptus.co.uk/webcam.htm |
+-------------------------------------------------+


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Coming in late here, so it may have been covered, but

www.aurorawatch.york.ac.uk

is a very good site for notification of UK geomagnetic activity levels.

Cheers.


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