Re: [OT] MAJOR auroral storm in progress!

Couldn't see a thing. Probably too much light pollution, living 1 mile
south
of Glasgow International airport probably doesn't help that!

Thomas
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Indy" <kochte@stsci.edu>
To: "GZG mailing list" <gzg-l@csua.berkeley.edu>
Sent: Thursday, November 20, 2003 5:46 PM
Subject: [OT] MAJOR auroral storm in progress!

> Greetings, everyone,
>
> Yes, I know, this has not much to do with FT/SG2/DS2, but I thought
> I would share this with y'all on the off-chance that some of you
> out there would be interested in seeing this.
>
> Right now, as I type, there is a **major** auroral storm blazing in
> the upper atmosphere over our planet. It apparently started at 3am
> (Eastern Standard TIme, U.S.) this morning, and is *still* going on.
> It is reaching as far south as the northern edge of Africa, and some
> reports say in some areas people can see it *through* the clouds. IF
> this storm continues unabated for another 6+ hours, most of you in the
> U.S will have a chance to see it, starting about 40 or so minutes
after
> sunset (the sky will likely be too bright to see it prior to that).
For
> those of you in Europe - GO OUTSIDE NOW!!
>
> A good webpage to check this out is at:
> http://www.spacew.com/www/aurora.html
> Look at the 6th image down to get an idea of how big this storm is
> cranking.
>
> Other, general information on the current storm (as well as line plots
> of the magnetic field) are here:
> http://www.spacew.com/
> (to have the best chance for an aurora to occur, the "Bz" number has
> to be high to the "South"; otherwise with the way Earth's magnetic
> field interacts with the Sun's, high Bz number to the "North" usually
> means almost no aurora will be visible)
>
> Just a quick fyi. Keep your fingers cross this will keep powering
> along until it is well past dark in your area. If you try to take
> any photos, time exposures of 5-20 seconds should work fine for you.
>
> Mk