Once in a lifetime chance for most of us tomorrow?
 

I know there is another thread about other recent solar storms/activities - but I wanted to make sure that everyone had a chance to ponder today's epic solar event. This could cause northern lights (auroras) to go far into the middle lattitudes tomorrow, the 29th.

If anyone knows more about aurora predictions or what I should do to maximize my viewing opportunities, please PM me. Thanks.

This could be most peoples best chance - possibly in their lifetime - to see good northern lights show. I'm no expert - I'm just spreading what I found.

This solar storm is perhaps the third largest ever recorded and it is aimed right at us.

I was just looking into all of this. Today's storm is one of 3 of the largest measured in all history.

Really good story here:

http://msnbc.com/news/984388.asp?0dm=C11MT


Awesome closeup here:
Go to the bottom of this page
http://rednova.com/news/stories/1/20.../story010.html

Under where it says:
"Movies of the Flare:"

Right-click on:
"EIT closeup of flare"
and "save link target as" to your harddrive.

I set up my media player to repeat forever and I played it full screen. WILD BABY!

anyone know more about aurora forecasts?

Here is a forcast (of sorts) for aurora activity worldwide...

A major solar event occurred at 1102 GMT on Oct 28th, facing the Earth. It was three hours long and left the sun at 1200 to 2000 km per second. The shock should arrive at Earth as early as the afternoon of the 29th in Europe (4 PM GMT)and as late as 2 AM GMT on the 30th.

Europeans will be able to see the aurora probably as far south as Southern France, since it should be over Paris by midnight.

It will be night in Australia and New Zealand if it arrives at 1100 GMT. This flare is probably large enough to approach mainland Australia and be visible from the North Island in New Zealand, so it may be worth staying up to see.

Russia, north of 50 deg latitude will be well placed on the night of the 29/30 to see the aurora from this flare.

Observers in the USA should not be discouraged that it will arrive during the day of the 29th. This flare is of a magnitude that should lead to aurora visible over the entire continental US on the evening of the 29th. It may be on the northern horizon for those in Florida, Texas, and Southern California, but it should be visible.

The best viewing is from a dark area, even your back yard, with a view to the northern horizon. Look out at the sky every half hour. Typically, an intensification occurs every two hours, lasting about 1/2 hour. The maximum activity is usually around 11pm to midnight.

More details on forecast here:
(LEVEL 5 nerd warning!!)
http://www.sec.noaa.gov/today.html

Decent site here too:
http://personal.inet.fi/koti/tom.eklund/aurora.html

Sounds awesome! Unfortunately, the one chance i might have in my life to see what could be the most amazing sight imaginable, and i wont be able to. I cant see the moon through the smoke down here, let alone the lights :( If this is true, it might be roadtrip time to the deserts or something just to get a good look. Thanks for the info...hope the winds change dramatically so i can get a glance. I doubt anything could look as cool as the lights.

Actually, this is significant to me and my company.
My company specializes in Satelite Telecommunications.
I need to give my boss heads-up on this,
since he's Head of the Network Operations Center.

Thanks for the info.

BTW...the geek/scientist side says thanks too. :)

This would be truely incredible to see, but I doubt I will be able to. Down here in South Florida the clouds typically cover up any cool space activity and prevent me from seeing it. Maybe I will get lucky though and we will have a clear night sky.

Yeah, except it is (of course!) pouring rain here and isnt supposed to stop until tomorrow.

*sigh*

Haven't you heard.... The sky is falling....
The most we will probably get from this is very bright nothern lights and some minor satellite outages during the full burst. With all the hardning to protect from electromagnetic burst from nuclear war, most electronics are somewhat protected.

Sun explosion, or SoCal explosion??

Our main server just went down. The battery backup system was freaking out - probably a voltage fluctuation. I can't help but think this is related, as this has never happened in 3 years. weird

Does anyone else have a problem with premature coronal mass ejection?

I love this stuff. But its cloudy near seattle today. the weather is supposed to clear up and cool way down, so hopefully tonight I'll get a chance to see it. thanks for the informative stuff!

It's been cloudy and rainy here for the past few days...they said it would clear up, but it's not looking like it. I've seen the Lights once and it was about the coolest thing I've ever seen. Oh well, if I can't see them now, I'll see them when I get to Alaska.

I'm hoping to get super-powers from this storm.

I'm outta luck too. It's supposed to be cloudy for the next couple of days.

saw the borealis in winnipeg over winter 2 years ago, and its worth seeing, I hope you all get / got your chance. If not, visit the northern latitudes sometime.

i have an aunt who lived in alaska. She called the other day and she happened to mention the lights. Apparently they are much brighter and more cool than usual. And this was before i read this story, so they should get super crazy up there tonight, or whenever the sun explosion hits.

I've never seen a northern lights show. :(

Northern lights? yep I've seen em'...lots of times.