I agree, I've kept the ones from 29/10 to 31/10 and arranged them to look
like a long graph. Quite impressive.
--
Rob Overfield
Hull; 3m ASL

"WasTa" wrote in message
...
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 |
+-------------------------------------------------+


---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.532 / Virus Database: 326 - Release Date: 27/10/03




-----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =-----
http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World!
-----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =-----

On Fri, 31 Oct 2003 20:01:53 -0000, Col wrote:

I'm 36 yrs old and still never seen one.

43 and didn't see one until 40, that coincides with moving up onto the
North Pennines and being 20+ miles from sources of even moderate light
pollution. The skies up here are dark right down to the horizon apart
from: a tiny glow from Alston (sometimes missing), a small patch from
Carlisle and about a 30deg wide by 15deg high patch from Newcastle
(40+ miles away). Any clear night without full moon and you can't miss
the Milky Way. When I first moved up I couldn't find the common
constelations I knew very well, just *too* many stars. B-)

Usually the aurora forecasts on this group are associated with cloud

That is the most likely problem. Got the digital camera in August
2001, it's specification influenced by a desire to photograph the
aurora and stars. The recent event was only the second chance at
auroral photography since getting the camera, the previous was Sep
2002. There have been 3 or 4 other nights that did have aurora that
would probably have been visible from here if there hadn't been cloud,
full moon or both.

What I'd like to know is, how bright are they? I've heard
descriptions they are as bright as the full moon!

The 29th I'd put at about 1/2 moon, more than enough light to walk
around outside safely (remember it's dark up here, *real* dark).

How long does one 'event' last, minutes, hours??
Can you see it moving?

The whole "event" will last 24 to 48hrs+ but how long or how often
aurora will be visible is very variable. It is in a state of constant
flux and changes over minutes. It all depends on what and how fast the
solar wind and earths magnetic field is depositing particles into the
upper atmosphere. Think of a steady or gusty wind on a beach, the
steady one will just move a steady amount of sand gently, a gusty one
will pick up great wodges of sand and fling it, hard.

Movement is very variable from just a patch of stationary lightness
that could be cloud until you realise that you can see stars through
it to rapidly pulsating sheets or rays or waving curtains. Around 0130
on the 30th the whole northern 1/4 segment of the sky (all I could see
from the bedroom window) was pulsating and gently shimmering above a
broad band of hanging glow that formed an arc from the NW to NE.

And how localised are the displays, if there is a spectacular
display 50 miles away, will I be able to see it?

Aurora happen at around 100km above the earth, 50 miles on the ground
isn't going to make a great difference to the visibilty. Always
assuming that you aren't going 50 miles south from a site that can
only just see it on a low northern horizon. B-)

There is at least one other post that lists some excellent sites for
watching for possible aurora. A few basics to look out for a

1) strong solar wind, 600km/hr+
2) a south or negative Bz value to the interplanetary magnetic field.
3) a Kp value 6, preferably 7.
4) Luck!

The first two are plotted against each other at:

http://www.ips.gov.au/Main.php?CatID...olar%20Conditi
ons&SubSecID=1&SubSecName=Solar%20Wind%20Speed

If the end of the line is well into the red box it's a good indiactor.
Always assuming that the sensors on the ACE spacecraft haven't been
completely overloaded like they where during the 29th/30th event. B-)

There is a German page that pulls together quite a number of these
sites which makes it considerably easier to check up on activity.

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

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

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?

Looking the wrong way? At least one report of all the activeity being
to the south, all be it from the north of Scotland or was it
Orkney/Shetland? There appeared to be a dull red glow over the entire
sky here on the 29th but the really visible stuff was from W to E via
N to just slightly more than overhead.

Too much light pollution? On a clear night, can you see the pair in
the handle of The Plough? 2nd star in from the end, the bright one is
Mizar at magnitude 2.4 is pair is Alcor at maginitude 4, no more than
an apparent 1/16"th away on the "top" of the handle.

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

On Sat, 01 Nov 2003 10:30:55 GMT, Paul C wrote:

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.

Well just up your listening frequency a bit. The 29th bought terrible
interference to our TV, I suspect that continental TV stations where
being reflected off the aurora and either into the input of the local
RBR relay or just straight into our aerial, or both. Takes some event
to reflect radio signals up to 800MHz. I guess I should have tuned
around a bit to see if I could watch anything but was far more
interested in being outside. B-)

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

Many thanks for the pointers everyone - I'll start my way through them!

--
+-------------------------------------------------+
| Nick Humphries, , Reading, UK |
| Little Fluffy Clouds (timelapse MPEGs + webcam) |
| http://obdwww.egyptus.co.uk/webcam.htm |
+-------------------------------------------------+

For some reason that link jumps to the Lancashire Uni one I previously
posted.

Trevor



"dirtylitterboxofferingstospammers" wrote in
message ...
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.


--This is an invalid email address to avoid spam--
to get correct one remove dependency on fame & fortune
h*$el*$$e**nd***$o$ts***i*$*$m**m$$o*n**s@$*$a$$o* *l.c**$*$om$$




---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.532 / Virus Database: 326 - Release Date: 27/10/03




-----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =-----
http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World!
-----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =-----

On Mon, 3 Nov 2003 17:30:40 -0000, WasTa wrote:

Order of follow ups corrected to make it easier to follow

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

www.aurorawatch.york.ac.uk

For some reason that link jumps to the Lancashire Uni one I
previously posted.

The wed site recently moved from York to Lancashire Uni, I think the
actual magnetometer is still at it's old location. I expect it says on
the site somewhere.

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail