Wednesday 28 October 2009

Northern Lights Alert

Very excited: an email arrived this morning from Aurorawatch declaring a Red Alert, which means that there's a good chance of seeing the northern lights tonight - if the clouds stay away.

Kilchoan is far enough north to enjoy some spectacular events, but there haven't been many over the past few years as sunspot activity, which triggers the aurora, has an eleven-year cycle which has been going through its quiet period.

Usually the lights are a curtain low in the northern sky but, a few years ago, we had a magnificent display, very like the one shown in this photo (courtesy NASA/J Curtis of U Alaska/ACRC, on Flickr). This is a 'corona aurora', which seems to spread out from a point high in the sky, so it's a bit like looking up into a tent. The sheets of light move and change colour, from the pink seen here to yellow, green and blue. We stood outside, staring up at the spectacle in awe.

For anyone who enjoys the sky at night, Aurorawatch, a group based at Lancaster University, is well worth joining. Just at the moment their website isn't working - it's probably jammed by people like me wanting to know what's going on - but it can usually be joined here

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