BS: Aurora Borealis/ Aurora Australis

Subject: BS: Aurora Borealis/ Aurora Australis
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 13 May 24 - 05:12 PM

Well, how was it for you?
Living in Scotland, one might expect that I would have seen “The Northern Lights” before, but no - that is, not until last Friday night! I have had the AuroraWatch UK app on my phone for some time, but have missed several previous sightings in Edinburgh. From Friday lunchtime the app was going mad, with big red alerts almost going off the page! So, about 11.30.pm, I ventured out, looked North, and…..nothing!
Came back in, saw that various friends had posted amazing pics on Facebook, but all said they’d seen the (Northern) lights in the south or SW. Looked again, southwards this time; some white wispy formations in the sky: looked through phone camera, and there were the colours, pink, purple and green. Fabulous. And this was despite far too many street lights shining in the wrong places.
Since heard and seen pics from friends in Penzance, Suffolk, Bavaria, Vancouver, and all points in between. Sadly no repetition on Saturday night, as it was too cloudy.
I also read that when it is manifest at one pole, it will surely be seen at the other - so how was it in Australia and NZ?

Subject: RE: BS: Aurora Borealis/ Aurora Australis
From: Joe Offer
Date: 13 May 24 - 07:11 PM

How was it for me? Well, kind of like sex has been lately.

Nonexistent.

Subject: RE: BS: Aurora Borealis/ Aurora Australis
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 13 May 24 - 09:53 PM

Joe!!!!

Aurora australis and borealis, caused by geomagnetic storms, put on another show

Sydney Morning Herald story may 13- Aurora australis a Sunday no-show, but bright lights could return this year ... Stunning pink and green hues were seen dancing through the sky across Tasmania, outback Western Australia, and along coastal regions of Victoria and South Australia on Saturday night. The southern lights are usually only visible in Tasmania or Victoria’s far south.

The southern lights were even visible in the cities of Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth on Saturday, although light pollution made the aurora less vibrant. But heavy cloud and rainfall hampered views in Sydney and Canberra that night. ... check out the 42 pics

Subject: RE: BS: Aurora Borealis/ Aurora Australis
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 13 May 24 - 09:56 PM

ps. if you can't see the Australian story - do a google image search on "was Aurora australis seen in sydney"

Subject: RE: BS: Aurora Borealis/ Aurora Australis
From: Helen
Date: 13 May 24 - 10:46 PM

Unfortunately, I'm 100 miles further north than Sandra in Sydney, so zero, nada, zilch, nuttin' up here. And the clouds would have stopped the view anyway.

Subject: RE: BS: Aurora Borealis/ Aurora Australis
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 13 May 24 - 11:33 PM

Sandra, that top linked photo is amazing! The second link was broken (now fixed) but hits a paywall, so no photo.

Subject: RE: BS: Aurora Borealis/ Aurora Australis
From: JennieG
Date: 14 May 24 - 01:11 AM

It was seen by people here in this area but not by us, due to cloud....and we're further north than Helen.

Subject: RE: BS: Aurora Borealis/ Aurora Australis
From: Helen
Date: 14 May 24 - 02:47 AM

JennieG, you would have a height advantage. We're close to sea level here but it would be a few hundred metres higher - give or take a hundred - where you are.

Subject: RE: BS: Aurora Borealis/ Aurora Australis
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 14 May 24 - 06:51 PM

Will we see more intense auroras this year? The science of solar storms explained On the weekend, parts of Australia witnessed an auroral display not seen for more than 20 years. If you had good weather, skies of pinks and greens could be seen as far north as Uluru and Mackay ...

Sydney did not have good weather - but might have next time!

linked article from 2022 referring to an 1859 event - Just how bad could a big solar storm be in the internet age? And how would Australia be affected?

Subject: RE: BS: Aurora Borealis/ Aurora Australis
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 14 May 24 - 07:36 PM

Great pictures: thanks Sandra!

Subject: RE: BS: Aurora Borealis/ Aurora Australis
From: DaveRo
Date: 15 May 24 - 02:16 AM

One reason for so many great pictures of aurorae is the image processing in modern smartphone cameras.

Why do the aurora look better through a camera?

Subject: RE: BS: Aurora Borealis/ Aurora Australis
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 15 May 24 - 04:16 AM

thanks for posting the link, DaveRo

I recently used my phone to get pics of some strange clouds over Sydney's CBD & what I saw & what my camera saw were different! They were not well defined, but I did manage to get pics of these mammatus clouds.

I prefer my camera (Sony SEL 1855) for taking pics, but naturally don't always have it.

Subject: RE: BS: Aurora Borealis/ Aurora Australis
From: skarpi
Date: 15 May 24 - 09:39 AM

Red aurora bad news, for our EMF.
Lets hope there no damage
All the best Skarpi Iceland

Subject: RE: BS: Aurora Borealis/ Aurora Australis
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 15 May 24 - 11:15 AM

I saw the Aurora Borealis around the west coast of Scotland quite a few times during my sea-going days on large sailing vessels. I even saw it once over my home town in Lincolnshire, in the English Midlands. But, last Friday/Saturday when the big show happened pretty much all over the U.K., I missed the whole thing - tucked up in bed by 10pm Friday evening, and slept like a log right through it! Buggerbuggerbugger! :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Aurora Borealis/ Aurora Australis
From: Helen
Date: 15 May 24 - 03:45 PM

Sandra, I have some photos of mammatus clouds from a few years ago. I had never seen them before. Strange to look at.

Also, I was driving across a bridge about a year ago at mid-morning and saw a strange light magenta-reddish colour in some clouds. When I stopped a few hundred metres down the road I couldn't see the red colour. I have no idea what caused the colour and I don't have a photo to prove it. (Somehow I managed to take peeks at the sight without driving off the bridge. LOL)

Subject: RE: BS: Aurora Borealis/ Aurora Australis
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 16 May 24 - 07:24 AM

In the 70s & 80s I worked in Library & Info at the Weather Bureau & used to collect the annual Calendar Many years later I moved the pile of calendars under my wardrobe to a charity shop.

Strangely enough it's been going for 40 years & I remember the first one (sigh) here are the 2024 photos - wow!

Subject: RE: BS: Aurora Borealis/ Aurora Australis
From: robomatic
Date: 17 May 24 - 02:39 PM

I have seen some nice Northern Lights, but not lately.