Posted on 06/25/2015 4:56:22 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Throughout Canada and as far south as Philadelphia, the northern lights have been wowing skywatchers this week, and the colorful displays could continue, following another solar explosion spotted by NASA.
A large sun storm last weekend known as a coronal mass ejection (CME) sent high-energy particles streaming toward Earth, where their interaction with the atmosphere and the magnetic field supercharged the gorgeous color displays known in the northern hemisphere as the aurora borealis. The dazzling celestial show may go on, thanks to another CME detected by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) today (June 25).
Today's explosion came from a freckle on the sun's surface known as sunspot AR12371, which also erupted on Tuesday (June 23). The particles blasted into space by Earth-directed CMEs usually reach our planet after one to five days, so auroras amped up by the latest solar storm could appear this weekend if Earth was indeed in the crosshairs.
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
I am out in NW PA and went out the past 2 nights that were both clear, and I didn’t see anything... but then again I have a mountain and trees north of my farm.
I once watched Aurora Australis from the Pole.
I divided into 2 categories: “sheets” and “glows”
Ours didn’t have the cool music, though.
I’m curious what the best time of night is to watch for them.
Aurora borealis reported in Colorado with strongest northern lights in a decade
I saw them in NJ once like 15-20 years ago, not 10, I think. Green.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.