Aurora alert

Hi all,

Just received an alert from the S&T warnings about possible auroral activity over the next few nights. (max chance May 30)

Could be worth keeping an eye out.

Maurice

By the way, did anyone see the auroral display last Wednesday? Many bright rays and some reddish colour visible early evening (twilight) here in Minnesota. Unfortunately by the time it was fully dark (at least... what passes for fully dark around here! :-() the display had died away.

Thanks Maurice for the heads up on the possible auroral activity! I hope the clouds around here clear off soon enough... Also, solar observers might also want to check out the large sunspot group which has been developing lately. It is large enough to observe with the naked (but NOT unprotected) eye.

Here is the S&T alert discussion of why people in the US missed out on the aurora.

"=================================================================
This Is SKY & TELESCOPE's AstroAlert for Sun-Earth Interactions
=================================================================

A s t r o A l e r t
Sun-Earth Alert

Solar Terrestrial Dispatch
http://www.spacew.com

Supporting Imagery and Movies are available at:
http://www.spacew.com/astroalert.html

30 May 2003

BAD LUCK FOR NORTH AMERICAN AURORA OBSERVERS

Sometimes (lots of times) things don't go quite according to plan when
you're hunting for the elusive "Northern Lights." The fact that the
occurrence of auroral activity is predictable at all is a testament to our
scientific knowledge and expertise of the Sun and the processes that couple
solar disturbances with the Earth's magnetosphere.

As most North American aurora observers can attest, the anticipated
display of the northern lights on 29 and 30 May were foiled by circumstances
beyond anyones control.

Just as the Sun began setting over the eastern fringes of North America,
the disturbance that had been broiling furiously began to decay. By the time
it was dark enough to observe anything, very few people were able to spot the
northern lights. Some travelled great distances to see the phenomena, only to
be disappointed. Dedicated observers in eastern Canada were treated to a few
relatively brief periods of moderately strong activity during the evening
hours last night, but such luck didn't hold out for most. Unfortunately, this
is one of the quirks of hunting aurorae. They can be frustratingly elusive at
times.

Prospects were much rosier for Europeans. Numerous reports of moderate
to strong auroral activity were received from the United Kingdom, the
Netherlands and even Germany. Had the solar disturbance arrived 6 to 9 hours
later than it did, observers across North America and down to the central
United States might have been priviledged to observe activity as well."