aurora

Auroras delight night owls

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Photo: Auroral display over Lake Erie. Photo by Christopher Christie.
Auroral display over Lake Erie. Photo by Christopher Christie.

A group of CAA members took advantage of beautiful night sky conditions to set up and observe from Medina County Parks’ Letha House Park — site of our Observatory. Among them was Christopher Christie. “I got home about 2:00 AM after a great, but cold night out at Letha House” he wrote. “I was starting to wind down around 3:00 AM when I noticed the Kp index was kicking up as the solar wind increased, it wasn’t much at the time but I kept an eye on it.”

He kept tabs on the situation. “About 3:30 the KP was up at 6, so I went to my front porch and didn’t see anything, but checked some of the other sites I use to check on the aurora and one showed a possibility of some moving in. So I went to the lake shore just inside Rocky River, and, well after about an hour and 175 images or so I was very happy.” We’re pretty pleased to see his results.

Auroral display over Lake Erie. White light at left-horizon is a passing boat. Photo by Christopher Christie.

It turns out Christie had tapped into the beginning of a big geomagnetic storm. By Saturday afternoon SpaceWeather.com was reporting that the storm continued to light the skies over nighttime areas of the globe and was expected to be active through Saturday night. Of course Saturday night brought clouds and rain to the Greater Cleveland Area. Still, it was a noteworthy event.

SpaceWeather.com explained, “The ongoing storm was triggered by a knot of south-pointing magnetism from the sun. During the early hours of Oct. 13, the knot bumped into Earth’s magnetic field, opening a crack in our planet’s magnetosphere. Solar wind poured in to fuel the auroras.”

Big sunspot takes aim at Earth

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Photo: The Sun with sunspots July 12, 2012. Photo by James Guilford.
Just below center-left, is AR1520, as seen from Northeastern Ohio on July 12 at 6:18 PM EDT.

Dominating the face of our Sun, this week, has been an enormous group of sunspots including those designated AR1520. The active Sun has been very interesting to watch, of late, as the dark spots rotated over the star’s limb and towards the center of its disk, facing Earth. Hydrogen-alpha observers have also been rewarded with good numbers of prominences spouting into the blackness of space. Forecasters stated AR1520 had great potential for flare activity and on Thursday, July 12, the forecast was fulfilled — just as the sunspot was aimed directly at Earth.

According to SpaceWeather.com, “Big sunspot AR1520 unleashed an X1.4-class solar flare on July 12th at 1653 UT. Because this sunspot is directly facing Earth, everything about the blast was geoeffective. For one thing, it hurled a coronal mass ejection (CME) directly toward our planet. According to a forecast track prepared by analysts at the Goddard Space Weather Lab, the CME will hit Earth on July 14th around 10:20 UT (+/- 7 hours) and could spark strong geomagnetic storms. Sky watchers should be alert for auroras this weekend.”

NASA’s orbital solar observatories, of course, captured images of the flare as it erupted. Very rarely is any individual human observer watching when the detonation occurs but one can get lucky. CAA Vice-President Mike Williams was very lucky. “I was looking at the spot {with my personal solar telescope} when it popped,” he said. “Wow what a sight!”

As so often seems the case, weather forecasts for the weekend include plenty of clouds to interfere with the view. Still, aurora fans should stay alert to active displays and the potential for clear skies; it could be a good show!

UPDATE: The CME impacted the Earth’s magnetic field at ~ 1800 UT or 2:00 PM EDT, July 14.

Photo above: The Sun with prominent AR1520 accompanied by smaller sunspots. Canon EOS 50D: ISO 400, f/11, 1/1000 sec., 400mm telephoto lens with AstroZap white light filter, 6:18 PM, July 12, 2012 — “just before the clouds rolled in,” according to photographer James Guilford.

Pillars of the Sun

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Photo: Brilliant sky with a sun pillar rising over trees. Photo by James Guilford.
A sun pillar rises into a firey December morning sky.

In the mornings and evenings of the cold seasons we are occasionally favored with glorious sunrises and sunsets. A few of those beautiful moments boast something beyond colored clouds and sky; they host sun pillars! Unknown Object

Sun pillars are the result of low-angle sunlight reflected from flat plate-shaped ice crystals suspended high in the air. Pillars can extend from approximately where the Sun sits, near the horizon, to points straight up and high above.

Monday morning, December 13, presented one of those fleeting moments as I drove to the office. I hurriedly pulled into a parking lot, extracted my camera from its case, and shot a few photos of the beautiful sky. A few minutes later, with the Sun slightly higher and the clouds slightly heavier, the fiery colors had faded and the sun pillar was gone.

Pillars, such as I saw, can also occur at night in the colder months. Lights from streetlamps, parking lots, buildings, and so forth can be reflected by atmospheric ice and produce delicately beautiful light pillars that are often mistaken for auroras.

So as you start or end your day, take the occasional glance at the sky. Perhaps you, too, will see the pillars of the Sun!

Surprise aurora a real, long-lasting beauty!

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Photo: Auroral display, Knox County, Ohio, Oct. 24, 2011. By Joe Golias.
Auroral display, Knox County, Ohio, Oct. 24, 2011, by Joe Golias.

The event began, for many of us, with a flash message from SpaceWeather.com early Monday evening:

CME IMPACT: A coronal mass ejection (CME) hit Earth’s magnetic field on Oct. 24th around 1800 UT (2 pm EDT).  The impact strongly compressed our planet’s magnetosphere and may have exposed geosynchronous satellites to solar wind plasma.  Mild to moderate geomagnetic storms are possible in the hours ahead as Earth’s magnetic field continues to reverberate from the hit.  Sky watchers in Scandinavia, Canada, and northern-tier US States should be alert for auroras, especially during the hours around local midnight.  Check http://spaceweather.com for updates.

As it happened, not only were the “northern-tier US States” treated but locales as far south as Mississippi and Arkansas saw vivid displays of the northern lights. Relatively rare red auroral activity was reported commonly during the event.

CAA members Bob Pence, Steve Gallant, Chris Christie, and Susan Petsche were among the lucky ones who viewed the display over Greater Cleveland.

Member and accomplished astro-photographer Joe Golias was even more fortunate. Golias was at his dark-sky observing location in Knox County with a grand opportunity for the surprise show. He was also on-site with the right gear to record and share the sight.

Photo: Brilliant red aurora over rural Ohio the night of October 24, 2011. By Joe Golias.
Bright red aurora, a relative rarity, dominates the Knox County sky. Photo by Joe Golias.

“The auroras from my location in Knox County were visible between 7:30 PM until 2:00 AM,” said Golias. “The green aurora was present continuously throughout the night while the red rays were visible during the peak time and on an off until 2:00 AM.”

For many other views of the surprise aurora of October 24, visit SpaceWeather.com and stay alert… solar activity is already high and is rising.