Hey-- if you live where it's dark right now (10:00 p.m. November 5 Pacific time, 06:00 Monday November 6 UT) go outside and look north! Even from where I am at latitude +39 I can see a reddish glow. There is a big auroral display right now caused by a big coronal mass ejection. Go to http://www.spaceweather.com for more info.

__________________
Phil Plait
The Bad Astronomer
http://www.badastronomy.com
badastro@badastronomy.com

Missed it. Stupid clouds. Dang.


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: DStahl on 2001-11-06 02:31 ]</font>

[quote]
On 2001-11-06 02:28, DStahl wrote:
Missed it. Stupid clouds. Dang.
7:12 A.M. HUb' Me2 "Go Clouds
9. yeah ? Another nine (um? read from bottom UP)
8 <A HREF="http://www.solar.ifa.hawaii.edu/ARMaps/armaps.html">
7 A: get spot number & location from hawaii </A>
6 <A HREF="gopher://solar.sec.noaa.gov/11/plots/xray">
5 B: get event time from Geos 8-9 xray </A>
4 C:
???
The Next event was TV`ized
but it was not animated thatt i could tell
so there were frames of prior & frames of after
just 2 [ (O) ] & [ (O)* ] showing eruption
to the right of the TV screen and maybe
having soar RADIUS time deminsion
refer to MATH ? no link there just now

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: HUb' on 2001-11-07 08:40 ]</font>

Saw very bright aurora last night from 37.5 deg. North at around 10:00 CST. Forcast is for clear skies again with possibility for a repeat display. Can't wait!

Grumble-grumble...

darn light pollution....

Doggone it!!! Every clear night when I'm outside, I look to the north just in case. Never see 'em. Then, when we get a major display, I'm neither outside nor do I hear about it til the next morning!!!! RAT FARTS!!!!

Guess I'll head on out tonight and see if I can pick up the tail end of it. . .

http://www.spaceweather.com/aurora/gallery_06nov01.html

Great pics of the auroras! Just wished we could see them here in Austin, Texas.

Visible here near Chicago (some guy even got pictures) in spite of the light polution.

__________________
Valiant Dancer

Got this off of a Cassini mailing list:

http://www-pw.physics.uiowa.edu/~krk...aNov_2001.html


corrected URL (I hope)

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Karl on 2001-11-07 08:20 ]</font>

HUb' hit 6:39 A.M. November 8, 2001 ?
the number i got from the X-Ray.gif {Geos9}
was about 1800 Z on Nov 4th. however i
could not determin if it was the approaching
edge of the Sun I had seen on tv or the
receeding edge as there was no North

shown on TV.






Got this off of a Cassini mailing list:

http://www-pw.physics.uiowa.edu/~krk...aNov_2001.html


corrected URL (I hope)

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Karl on 2001-11-07 08:20 ]</font>
[/quote] HUb' EDIT Time = 6:44 A.M. PST yesy i will try to adjust the astral clock!.!

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: HUb' on 2001-11-08 08:06 ]</font>

On Tuesday in the NY Times science section there was a photo of the whole Earth showing vast, symmetric auroral displays occurring at the same time over both the north and south polar regions. The photo doesn't seem to be available on the NY Times website and I can't find it elsewhere. Maybe someone else has it an can post it, because it was an impressive sight.

This site will get you the picture. Mirror Image Aurorae

As I always understood it, the northern and southern lights are not exact mirror images of each other. I've heard that the Earth's magnetic field sends electrons to the north, where they tend to create rather bright, greenish aurorae. But the heavier protons get sent to the south, and the aurorae there are much weaker and dimmer (and I think more reddish).

Can someone tell me if this is right? Or have I been under a misconception all this time? Any words from those who live Down Under here?

__________________
...And that, my liege, is how we know the Earth to be banana-shaped. --Sir Bedevere