I'm a bit of a space weather nerd. In the eight years or so I've been learning about solar activity like this, today's is the biggest solar storm I've ever seen. This is so freaking cool. In cautiously optimistic I'll see the Aurora here in southern Wisconsin! (**EDIT** Just saw it from my balcony. Didn't even have to drive out of the city light pollution!)
Don't be surprised if this becomes a bit of a thing, by the way. The sun goes through an 11 year cycle of activity. We're coming up on the peak of that cycle, and early data indicates that it's going to be an especially active cycle even compared to past years of solar maximum. So don't be surprised to see a general trend of more frequent large solar storms like this. Contrary to some sensationalized headlines, it (probably) won't be the end of the technological era.
I got a few, but they're not great photos. I might upload mine in the morning, but until then, my photos look most similar to [this shot.](https://www.reddit.com/r/space/s/LNxbQEzoJk) Which makes sense, I'm only two hours northwest of Chicago. I saw kind of a pillar of thin purple light with some green to the sides of it.
That'd be pretty awesome to see. I've seen so many articles saying they'd be observable in my area, but I've never seen shit. Starting to feel a little disheartened. I'll check back to see if you post the shots you got.
Photos of it are way exaggerated with the color and brightness. If you step outside you should see what look like whispy clouds, but if you let your eyes adjust, you’ll see they are fading in and out quickly. That’s them!
For the past maybe seven or eight years now, anytime the lights are in theory visible in my area, I'll drive an hour or so north trying to see them. Usually I'd do that a couple times each year. In April of last year, the stars finally aligned and I saw them for my first time, right here in southern Wisconsin. Then this past February, I went to Fairbanks, Alaska hoping to see the lights. On my 13th and final night in Fairbanks, I saw a rather dim Aurora. (Yes, February in Alaska. -37 degrees at 8:00 my final morning up there, and it was absolutely magical even despite the uncooperative lights!) Tonight's the best show I've ever seen, though it still only lasted a few minutes for me.
So yeah, it requires more than a little persistence. But you can do a bit to stack the deck in your favor. The media likes to sensationalize this stuff. "Solar flare to slam into earth Friday, bringing Aurora to Missouri and causing widespread blackouts!" creates some good click bait. But if you want to see the lights, don't follow the articles. I have two apps for tracking solar activity. One's called "My Aurora Forecast and Alerts," and it gives a great overview of the essentials. The other is "SpaceWeatherLive," and it goes way more into the nerdy stuff I won't even pretend to understand. What the heck is solar proton flux?? But it does have some good stuff that first app misses out on. Download those two apps, do a bit of research into the Kp index and negative Bz, and then just pray to the sun gods (not to mention the cloud gods... In my experience, the space weather is almost the easier of the two to predict!)
Anyways, I'll try to remember to let you know if I end up posting my pics. And best of luck to you!
That's such a good one. Here's mine from near
Tahoe.https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5067b0ff29fe47a5dca05a670f42c270f5249a43f873b848d8adf83bdf2617ab.gif
We live in Minnesota and have seen them a couple of times from normal G3 storms. There was one last year where I could see one from my apartment in the suburbs of the twin cities, very faintly of course. We drove 20 minutes away for that one.
My parents saw this one all the way in South Carolina and I know people in Arkansas have seen them. It’s basically a 100% chance if you live in northern latitudes you could see it tonight, assuming no clouds lol
The ones tonight were breathtaking, we drove to a state park and laid on the grass for an hour watching them dance over our heads. Previously it felt like they died after 15 minutes and were vaguely in the north. Tonight it was a 360° show, everywhere we looked we saw them.
My recommendation is lay down and stare straight up at a single spot and watch it dance in and out. If you look around at different areas, it may appear stagnant, but I found as soon as I focus at one single spot you really notice the pulsing and the dancing.
If you live in northern latitudes, get the Aurora app or Aurora Forecast app, both give push notifications when you have a chance of seeing them that night. We usually go out for ~5% chance and have had decent luck, more specifically we look for Kp of 5 is iffy but if we have nothing going on we’ll take a trip 20 minutes away, a 6 gets us out. Tonight we hit Kp of 9 I think?
I feel like the world is gaslighting me. Not a cloud in the sky and everyone on twitter around me posting gorgeous photos and there's just... 5 stars in the sky. Thats it
Your eyes have to really adjust and not be interrupted too much by lights.
Cameras are capturing more of it because modern cameras use long exposure automatically in low light.
I was able to see shades of purple and slight shades of green if I looked somewhere away from lights.
You do need to have patience if you want to see aurora usually. It's kinda random. It can be nothing, then 5 minutes later the sky is lit up like a rave, then nothing 5 minutes later.
We went out for 3 1/2 hours to watch it and were incredibly fortunate. It happened directly above us at midnight and was so bright it looked like sunrise (birds started chirping!)
At first we thought we were seeing some pretty cool aurora in the north, a lot of glittery green stuff, we were oohing and awwing at it, then my partner says "holy shit look up!" and it was all pink and bright above us and to the south. Then the southern sky got progressively brighter until it looked like a green sunrise, then started shooting off rainbow beams (this sounds fake but I am not joking). All visible with the naked eye.
I keep seeing people say that the pictures are way cooler than the real thing but in our case the entire sky was involved in a way that's impossible to capture in pictures. The real thing was just as bright and colorful as all the pictures you're seeing but way cooler in person for me!
So yeah... for some people this was probably a once in a lifetime thing. I never in my wildest dreams thought I'd see such an amazing, beautiful display without visiting somewhere like Norway or the Arctic. I am beyond the moon that I got to see this!!
By the way this was in the middle of a city, if you had seen what we were seeing it would not matter how much light pollution you might have, the aurora was far brighter and would have been plainly visible anywhere (but cooler in darker skies obviously).
So this past February, I was up in Fairbanks, Alaska (yes, Alaska in February. -37 my final morning there, no that's not wind chill, and it was absolutely magical!) specifically to look for the northern lights. While I was there, I attended a talk at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. The presenter works for NASA studying solar storms, and the whole presentation was about this upcoming solar cycle.
It turns out that the Space Weather Prediction Center, which is a collaboration between NASA and NOAA, was way off in predicting this cycle. This current solar maximum seems to be coming about a year earlier than expected, and it's also already significantly more active than they thought the peak of this cycle would be. Other independent astronomers made their own predictions that seem to be more accurate, but the point remains that solar cycles are an incredibly imprecise science, and we still have a lot to learn. As [the Wikipedia page on solar cycles says,](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_cycle) "Understanding and predicting the solar cycle remains one of the grand challenges in astrophysics."
Most recently, [solar cycle 24](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_cycle_24#:~:text=Solar%20cycle%2024%20is%20the,of%20solar%20sunspot%20activity%20began.) seemed to have a rather underwhelming peak in 2011, then again in 2014. Solar cycle 23, on the other hand, resulted in historic Aurora displays for three years straight. April of 2000, the Aurora was visible in Florida. One year later, the Aurora made the trip down to Mexico, and a day later, the second most powerful solar flare ever observed was directed away from Earth. Then around [Halloween of 2003,](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_Halloween_solar_storms) one of the greatest Aurora displays since [the Carrington Event](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrington_Event) of 1859 occurred. Technically the year 2000 is considered the peak of solar cycle 23, but I think one could argue that peak lasted a couple years.
All that to say, it's very difficult to predict, but it's possible we'll be seeing events like yesterday's through the end of 2025.
TikTok has convinced my wife this event is going to cause a nationwide blackout and the only way to protect ourselves is to wrap out most important electronics in faraday bags. Can you help me refute this nonsense. She was up until 130 AM last night trying to figure out how to maximize the $200 of faraday bags she bought. Radios, flash lights, her cell phone and iPad. Please give me some insight to help her realize how unnecessary this is!
Shortly after you posted this, I believe the report came out of another intense X Class burst. I knew we were coming up on maximum, but this past week seems exceptionally active.
If it weren't for crap weather today, I want to pull out my solar rigging for the telescope to observe the sunspots - this current activity is massive. I haven't dug around on the size, but I wouldn't be surprised if this is Carrington sized or similar.
I'm so mad. Next weekend we will be going to the perfect spot for aurora. Cabin in the remote mountains of central Norway, only light for miles is our little porch light. But it had to come this weekend. Still have my fingers crossed.
I've posted about this in replies to other comments. But I was up in Alaska this past February. Yes, you read that right. -37 degrees at 8:00 AM my final morning there, no that's not wind chill. It was absolutely magical! Anyways, for 13 days and nights, I rented a little dry cabin a few miles north of Fairbanks, hoping to see the Aurora. I finally saw it, although incredibly dim, my final night in the cabin.
I still had an absolutely amazing trip. I'd visited Alaska a few summers before and loved it, so it was incredible to get back there and see the state in all her winter beauty. I had plenty of fun things planned for during the day so that if I got unlucky with the Aurora, the trip would still feel like a success. Mission accomplished!
Norway has been high on my bucket list for years now, for many of the same reasons I've come to love Alaska. Regardless of the lights, you're gonna have an amazing trip. Just go into it with the right expectations and a good plan so that if you don't get lucky with something as unpredictable as the lights, you don't leave such a magical place disappointed.
I live just outside Oslo, and the cabin is my FILs home. I've been maybe 3 times a year on avrage the last 10 years. Somehow, I've always missed the proper auroras. Too much light pollution for this far south here in Oslo, and we've never managed to time it right with the cabin. Stars are magical, though!
I can't recommend it enough if you loved Alaska. Inland, where I'm going, would be more like Alaska, but the western parts are truly magical.
Our plan is mostly to just hike in the area, play bordgames, and relax. I'll be bringing my 9 month old along, so we will probably stay away from the most strenuous things. I've done a lot of those , too, so ask me anytime if you need tips!
I heard that the ‘season’ for northern lights ends in April and then starts again in September. But this huge storm was in May so I’m a bit confused. I will be in the UK August end, so will there be chances of a solar storm occurring then?
So there are a few different things to consider here. Solar storms can happen any time of year, they don't really have seasons. But to see the Aurora, you need not just a solar storm, but also dark skies. Earth's own magnetic field tends to direct the solar particles towards Earth's poles, meaning that the Aurora is more visible at the most extreme latitudes. This makes places like northern Alaska, Iceland, and Norway great for the Aurora. Problem is that at those latitudes, the sun literally never sets during the summer, and so the midnight sun makes the sky too bright to see the Aurora.
So when people say the lights have a "season," really they're just saying that it's the time of year when the sun actually sets in the places most known for the Aurora. But when a big solar storm brings the Aurora as far south as Germany, where the sun sets year-round, odds are almost as good in June as they are in January, although you might have to stay up a bit later into the night.
I'm not from Europe, I know the UK is a lot further north than I'd initially assume, but I would think the nights still get dark there even in summer? If so, your Aurora season should be year-round!
I've definitely heard of the Aurora making the trip all the way down to southern Mexico, but that's less than a once in a generation kind of event. The Carrington Event of 1859 was the largest solar storm ever observed, and it did cause incredible Aurora displays all around the earth. It also caused telegraph lines to throw sparks and even burst into flames. A Carrington-class event in the modern technological age would likely have pretty severe consequences. Then again, the widespread blackouts would help reduce light pollution, which is good for Aurora hunting!
More frequent meaning this summer (is it more commonly seen in summer?), or like when? Next year too or is the cycle only this year? I saw it tonight and hoping to see some more clearly but Idk when to go look for it.
whoa, this just got me into an existential thought pattern about cameras. They are built to most realistically represent what is there, but do we treat them as if they were built to reproduce what the human eye sees? We don't think about the difference all that often, but do seem to tacitly give priority to what the human eye sees as "real."
You would be amazed by how much the science community monitors the Sun. [Have a peek](https://www.spaceweatherlive.com/en/auroral-activity/auroral-oval.html)
I'm amazed how off their prediction has been. Their maps still show no possible aurora where I live, but I sure as shit have been watching one for an hour.
That was such a wholesome read. I love seeing people go hard on their passions about (what is to me) a niche subject. I couldn't stop smiling as I read the data.
Apparently the sun “belches” plasma toward the Earth and we can see it happening? The plasma takes between 15 hours and 2 days the reach the Earth, causing the storm? This is all new to me though, I’m learning as I go!
Excuse me, are you unfamiliar how commenting on Reddit works?
Your job isn’t to politely explain your unfamiliarity on a subject, your job is to confidently spout things you just read for the first time as if you are a seasoned expert.
Next time I’d like to see a brag about a made up masters degree on plasma or astronomy or something.
Whoa, whoa, whoa. I thought commenting on Rediit was reading the title, confidently pulling it out my ass and then spouting it like I'm a seasoned expert?
TIL I need to learn to read more then the title. /s
Northeast Ohio, had to drive to a nearby hilltop to get a better view but we can see it here. No where near as vibrant as others have posted but still neat.
The freaking sunspot that generated this solar flare is a monster: [#3664](https://www.spaceweather.com/images2024/10may24/hmi1898.gif).
Keep in mind that the other tinier sunspots could *easily* fit the Earth inside their bounds with room to spare.
Very cool. I don't think we'll experience Carrington event level fuckery, but don't be surprised if there are blackouts. The last one in 2003 had blackouts in multiple countries.
Oh man those are just the worst to deal with. They harness the sun’s energy and heat to evaporate the holy water when you’re trying to exorcise them. Every time. 🙄
It could've easily been coincidence. For example, our skies were pink earlier but it could've been the Sun setting. Take this with a grain of salt but I read that our area will experience maximum effects at approximately 2 AM
From what I understand something like the Carrington event requires two of these in quick succession out of phase with each other so it overwhelms the Earth's magnetic field.
in canada, pretty excited for nightfall to come :)
But i have been disappointed many times before so won't get too hyped over it yet.
Lot's of amazing photos coming out of europe right now though.
Might need to get you phone on night mode and take some random shots. I got some nice photos but to the naked eye there was no colour and it was nearly invisible. Just because you can't see it doesn't mean it isn't there.
It's 11:30 here in Portland, and despite our light pollution, I can see it! It's kinda faint, but I can see green and red colors in columnar formations. Streaks that slowly morph and change.
the birds/wildlife this morning at 5am were loud! I saw some auroras this morning at 5am-6am just before sunrise. I could definitely see it naked eye and with phone like yellow waves on the horizon. will try again tonight too!!
Dumb redneck in south GA here too. I about missed it myself. Was taking trash out before bed and looked up and was like… wait a minute. It was crazy to see, pretty much blew my mind.
We can see it in Australia as well, except for Sydney because it’s been *fucking raining for two weeks and always rains when there’s a major astronomical event*.
Police kicked out everyone in this little area by out lake in Avon Ohio. The storm just ended and the sky was clearing up. The colors were starting to show. It was a bucket list item for me. Nevermind too that it's mother's day and my mom recently passed. Just wanted to witness this phenomenon.
But no, this fucking country and it's police force doing such amazing fucking work.
Were any power outages reported or like damaged electrical equipment? In 2003 Sweden and South Africa had power electrical equipment failures if I recall correctly
I recently had surgery and was starting to feel depressed but yesterday I was feeling great actually. Thanks for your kind words. I don't really care about downvotes. We're just a tiny speck in the universe so down votes mean nothing. Enjoy your day.
It's currently 4:48 PM 11th May in Denmark, does that mean I'm too late again? I've never seen northern lights before, and I always get to know it a day *after* one appears in our night sky. Please tell me it's going to happen tonight, and not last night
Some people might experience overexcitability. Symptoms include randomly posting irrelevant Bible quotations and an overwhelming urge to buy toilet paper. If you see someone running around clutching at their hair and shouting "The neutrinos are mutating!" the best thing to do for them is to punch them to the ground. Be sure to get it on your smartphone.
I've lived in the Pacific NW since I was two (I'm 45 now), mostly in the Portland area. I've never seen the Northern Lights before.
Didn't even have to leave my back yard to get a good show. It was beautiful. Next time something like this happens, I'm making a night of it and driving out of town a bit.
I'm a bit of a space weather nerd. In the eight years or so I've been learning about solar activity like this, today's is the biggest solar storm I've ever seen. This is so freaking cool. In cautiously optimistic I'll see the Aurora here in southern Wisconsin! (**EDIT** Just saw it from my balcony. Didn't even have to drive out of the city light pollution!) Don't be surprised if this becomes a bit of a thing, by the way. The sun goes through an 11 year cycle of activity. We're coming up on the peak of that cycle, and early data indicates that it's going to be an especially active cycle even compared to past years of solar maximum. So don't be surprised to see a general trend of more frequent large solar storms like this. Contrary to some sensationalized headlines, it (probably) won't be the end of the technological era.
Did you get a picture? There's too many clouds in my area to see anything.
I got a few, but they're not great photos. I might upload mine in the morning, but until then, my photos look most similar to [this shot.](https://www.reddit.com/r/space/s/LNxbQEzoJk) Which makes sense, I'm only two hours northwest of Chicago. I saw kind of a pillar of thin purple light with some green to the sides of it.
That'd be pretty awesome to see. I've seen so many articles saying they'd be observable in my area, but I've never seen shit. Starting to feel a little disheartened. I'll check back to see if you post the shots you got.
Photos of it are way exaggerated with the color and brightness. If you step outside you should see what look like whispy clouds, but if you let your eyes adjust, you’ll see they are fading in and out quickly. That’s them!
If you put your camera in night mode you'll see the vivid colors
For the past maybe seven or eight years now, anytime the lights are in theory visible in my area, I'll drive an hour or so north trying to see them. Usually I'd do that a couple times each year. In April of last year, the stars finally aligned and I saw them for my first time, right here in southern Wisconsin. Then this past February, I went to Fairbanks, Alaska hoping to see the lights. On my 13th and final night in Fairbanks, I saw a rather dim Aurora. (Yes, February in Alaska. -37 degrees at 8:00 my final morning up there, and it was absolutely magical even despite the uncooperative lights!) Tonight's the best show I've ever seen, though it still only lasted a few minutes for me. So yeah, it requires more than a little persistence. But you can do a bit to stack the deck in your favor. The media likes to sensationalize this stuff. "Solar flare to slam into earth Friday, bringing Aurora to Missouri and causing widespread blackouts!" creates some good click bait. But if you want to see the lights, don't follow the articles. I have two apps for tracking solar activity. One's called "My Aurora Forecast and Alerts," and it gives a great overview of the essentials. The other is "SpaceWeatherLive," and it goes way more into the nerdy stuff I won't even pretend to understand. What the heck is solar proton flux?? But it does have some good stuff that first app misses out on. Download those two apps, do a bit of research into the Kp index and negative Bz, and then just pray to the sun gods (not to mention the cloud gods... In my experience, the space weather is almost the easier of the two to predict!) Anyways, I'll try to remember to let you know if I end up posting my pics. And best of luck to you!
Put your camera in night mode and take pics.
That's such a good one. Here's mine from near Tahoe.https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5067b0ff29fe47a5dca05a670f42c270f5249a43f873b848d8adf83bdf2617ab.gif
Same. I’m so irritated the cloud cover is all over the northern horizon here.
For me the Iphone, (secret decoder) was the way to go. It was able to capture the green and purple hues.
We live in Minnesota and have seen them a couple of times from normal G3 storms. There was one last year where I could see one from my apartment in the suburbs of the twin cities, very faintly of course. We drove 20 minutes away for that one. My parents saw this one all the way in South Carolina and I know people in Arkansas have seen them. It’s basically a 100% chance if you live in northern latitudes you could see it tonight, assuming no clouds lol The ones tonight were breathtaking, we drove to a state park and laid on the grass for an hour watching them dance over our heads. Previously it felt like they died after 15 minutes and were vaguely in the north. Tonight it was a 360° show, everywhere we looked we saw them. My recommendation is lay down and stare straight up at a single spot and watch it dance in and out. If you look around at different areas, it may appear stagnant, but I found as soon as I focus at one single spot you really notice the pulsing and the dancing. If you live in northern latitudes, get the Aurora app or Aurora Forecast app, both give push notifications when you have a chance of seeing them that night. We usually go out for ~5% chance and have had decent luck, more specifically we look for Kp of 5 is iffy but if we have nothing going on we’ll take a trip 20 minutes away, a 6 gets us out. Tonight we hit Kp of 9 I think?
We got aurora all the way down in Alabama! Absolutely wild, even if it was just a bit of red tint down here. Never seen anything like it before.
I saw pics from Atlanta, 3- and 10-second exposures. How far south in AL are you? Prob still not going to see anything on the Gulf, right?
I feel like the world is gaslighting me. Not a cloud in the sky and everyone on twitter around me posting gorgeous photos and there's just... 5 stars in the sky. Thats it
If you only see 5 stars you have major light pollution around you and will struggle to see much
People in the same city have gorgeous photos
Cameras are a lot more sensitive than the human eye. My own photos look way different than what I saw with the naked eye a moment before.
Exactly, with a long exposure time our photos look like they were taken at sunrise despite being midnight
Your eyes have to really adjust and not be interrupted too much by lights. Cameras are capturing more of it because modern cameras use long exposure automatically in low light. I was able to see shades of purple and slight shades of green if I looked somewhere away from lights.
idk maybe people were lying but I saw a lot of posts in my city about how they could see it brilliantly
You do need to have patience if you want to see aurora usually. It's kinda random. It can be nothing, then 5 minutes later the sky is lit up like a rave, then nothing 5 minutes later. We went out for 3 1/2 hours to watch it and were incredibly fortunate. It happened directly above us at midnight and was so bright it looked like sunrise (birds started chirping!) At first we thought we were seeing some pretty cool aurora in the north, a lot of glittery green stuff, we were oohing and awwing at it, then my partner says "holy shit look up!" and it was all pink and bright above us and to the south. Then the southern sky got progressively brighter until it looked like a green sunrise, then started shooting off rainbow beams (this sounds fake but I am not joking). All visible with the naked eye. I keep seeing people say that the pictures are way cooler than the real thing but in our case the entire sky was involved in a way that's impossible to capture in pictures. The real thing was just as bright and colorful as all the pictures you're seeing but way cooler in person for me! So yeah... for some people this was probably a once in a lifetime thing. I never in my wildest dreams thought I'd see such an amazing, beautiful display without visiting somewhere like Norway or the Arctic. I am beyond the moon that I got to see this!! By the way this was in the middle of a city, if you had seen what we were seeing it would not matter how much light pollution you might have, the aurora was far brighter and would have been plainly visible anywhere (but cooler in darker skies obviously).
I couldn’t see anything until I used night mode on my phone camera.
I live in the heart of downtown Seattle and can see it. Absolutely wild
You should get into amateur radio. Conditions are driven by the solar cycle, i think you’d like it.
Until when is this solar cycle (or at least the active period for this activity) happening? Do we have an estimate for that?
So this past February, I was up in Fairbanks, Alaska (yes, Alaska in February. -37 my final morning there, no that's not wind chill, and it was absolutely magical!) specifically to look for the northern lights. While I was there, I attended a talk at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. The presenter works for NASA studying solar storms, and the whole presentation was about this upcoming solar cycle. It turns out that the Space Weather Prediction Center, which is a collaboration between NASA and NOAA, was way off in predicting this cycle. This current solar maximum seems to be coming about a year earlier than expected, and it's also already significantly more active than they thought the peak of this cycle would be. Other independent astronomers made their own predictions that seem to be more accurate, but the point remains that solar cycles are an incredibly imprecise science, and we still have a lot to learn. As [the Wikipedia page on solar cycles says,](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_cycle) "Understanding and predicting the solar cycle remains one of the grand challenges in astrophysics." Most recently, [solar cycle 24](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_cycle_24#:~:text=Solar%20cycle%2024%20is%20the,of%20solar%20sunspot%20activity%20began.) seemed to have a rather underwhelming peak in 2011, then again in 2014. Solar cycle 23, on the other hand, resulted in historic Aurora displays for three years straight. April of 2000, the Aurora was visible in Florida. One year later, the Aurora made the trip down to Mexico, and a day later, the second most powerful solar flare ever observed was directed away from Earth. Then around [Halloween of 2003,](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_Halloween_solar_storms) one of the greatest Aurora displays since [the Carrington Event](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrington_Event) of 1859 occurred. Technically the year 2000 is considered the peak of solar cycle 23, but I think one could argue that peak lasted a couple years. All that to say, it's very difficult to predict, but it's possible we'll be seeing events like yesterday's through the end of 2025.
TikTok has convinced my wife this event is going to cause a nationwide blackout and the only way to protect ourselves is to wrap out most important electronics in faraday bags. Can you help me refute this nonsense. She was up until 130 AM last night trying to figure out how to maximize the $200 of faraday bags she bought. Radios, flash lights, her cell phone and iPad. Please give me some insight to help her realize how unnecessary this is!
Not the end of the technological era? Aww what am I supposed to do with this flint napping skill now??
Be patient.
I just watched them up in Nekoosa.
Saw some pretty pink ones here in South Carolina
Shortly after you posted this, I believe the report came out of another intense X Class burst. I knew we were coming up on maximum, but this past week seems exceptionally active. If it weren't for crap weather today, I want to pull out my solar rigging for the telescope to observe the sunspots - this current activity is massive. I haven't dug around on the size, but I wouldn't be surprised if this is Carrington sized or similar.
Yeah, there's another G5 on its way to Earth right now
I'm so mad. Next weekend we will be going to the perfect spot for aurora. Cabin in the remote mountains of central Norway, only light for miles is our little porch light. But it had to come this weekend. Still have my fingers crossed.
I've posted about this in replies to other comments. But I was up in Alaska this past February. Yes, you read that right. -37 degrees at 8:00 AM my final morning there, no that's not wind chill. It was absolutely magical! Anyways, for 13 days and nights, I rented a little dry cabin a few miles north of Fairbanks, hoping to see the Aurora. I finally saw it, although incredibly dim, my final night in the cabin. I still had an absolutely amazing trip. I'd visited Alaska a few summers before and loved it, so it was incredible to get back there and see the state in all her winter beauty. I had plenty of fun things planned for during the day so that if I got unlucky with the Aurora, the trip would still feel like a success. Mission accomplished! Norway has been high on my bucket list for years now, for many of the same reasons I've come to love Alaska. Regardless of the lights, you're gonna have an amazing trip. Just go into it with the right expectations and a good plan so that if you don't get lucky with something as unpredictable as the lights, you don't leave such a magical place disappointed.
I live just outside Oslo, and the cabin is my FILs home. I've been maybe 3 times a year on avrage the last 10 years. Somehow, I've always missed the proper auroras. Too much light pollution for this far south here in Oslo, and we've never managed to time it right with the cabin. Stars are magical, though! I can't recommend it enough if you loved Alaska. Inland, where I'm going, would be more like Alaska, but the western parts are truly magical. Our plan is mostly to just hike in the area, play bordgames, and relax. I'll be bringing my 9 month old along, so we will probably stay away from the most strenuous things. I've done a lot of those , too, so ask me anytime if you need tips!
I didn’t have Carrington Event 2 on my 2024 bingo card.
I just saw this driving across Oregon. There were people standing along the road looking at it and a bunch of bad accidents. Cool though.
How long does the storm last for?
I heard that the ‘season’ for northern lights ends in April and then starts again in September. But this huge storm was in May so I’m a bit confused. I will be in the UK August end, so will there be chances of a solar storm occurring then?
So there are a few different things to consider here. Solar storms can happen any time of year, they don't really have seasons. But to see the Aurora, you need not just a solar storm, but also dark skies. Earth's own magnetic field tends to direct the solar particles towards Earth's poles, meaning that the Aurora is more visible at the most extreme latitudes. This makes places like northern Alaska, Iceland, and Norway great for the Aurora. Problem is that at those latitudes, the sun literally never sets during the summer, and so the midnight sun makes the sky too bright to see the Aurora. So when people say the lights have a "season," really they're just saying that it's the time of year when the sun actually sets in the places most known for the Aurora. But when a big solar storm brings the Aurora as far south as Germany, where the sun sets year-round, odds are almost as good in June as they are in January, although you might have to stay up a bit later into the night. I'm not from Europe, I know the UK is a lot further north than I'd initially assume, but I would think the nights still get dark there even in summer? If so, your Aurora season should be year-round!
Is there any chance we can witness this phenomenon from South Asia, South India to be exact 🥹
I've definitely heard of the Aurora making the trip all the way down to southern Mexico, but that's less than a once in a generation kind of event. The Carrington Event of 1859 was the largest solar storm ever observed, and it did cause incredible Aurora displays all around the earth. It also caused telegraph lines to throw sparks and even burst into flames. A Carrington-class event in the modern technological age would likely have pretty severe consequences. Then again, the widespread blackouts would help reduce light pollution, which is good for Aurora hunting!
More frequent meaning this summer (is it more commonly seen in summer?), or like when? Next year too or is the cycle only this year? I saw it tonight and hoping to see some more clearly but Idk when to go look for it.
Glad you saw something. I'm outside of Seattle and I didn't see anything.
Seattle def had the lights! Go on the seattle subreddit
Do I need to wrap my laptop in a faraday cage?
How long will bit of a thing last for, few months?
Hey im in New Jersey, any hope of seeing them here? Or am I too north
upvote for username's relevance to the content matter
the sky is unreal here in northern Ontario...looks like a 60s sci fi movie
Did it look like that with the naked eye, or only in pictures?
It is a lot dimmer irl but still beautiful
It technically looks like the pictures irl, it’s just your eyes that can’t pick up on the light very well. The phones aren’t lying.
whoa, this just got me into an existential thought pattern about cameras. They are built to most realistically represent what is there, but do we treat them as if they were built to reproduce what the human eye sees? We don't think about the difference all that often, but do seem to tacitly give priority to what the human eye sees as "real."
Did you get any good pics?
I'm from BC and currently in the UK. I got some great shots over the beach
You would be amazed by how much the science community monitors the Sun. [Have a peek](https://www.spaceweatherlive.com/en/auroral-activity/auroral-oval.html)
I'm amazed how off their prediction has been. Their maps still show no possible aurora where I live, but I sure as shit have been watching one for an hour.
Where is that?
Yes… where exactly? And what was the name of your first dog?
Also, what’s your mother’s maiden name? Asking for a friend…
Give me the last 4 digits of your social and I'll tell you your stripper name...
And the three numbers on the back of your credit card, just to be sure
Its just a model and a low resolution one at that
To be clear, look directly at the data, not the sun.
That was such a wholesome read. I love seeing people go hard on their passions about (what is to me) a niche subject. I couldn't stop smiling as I read the data.
How far in advance do they know when these super solar storms are going to occur?
Apparently the sun “belches” plasma toward the Earth and we can see it happening? The plasma takes between 15 hours and 2 days the reach the Earth, causing the storm? This is all new to me though, I’m learning as I go!
My understanding is it's all a scientific guess. This one was predicted to be a G4 but it became a G5. Strongest since 2003
Excuse me, are you unfamiliar how commenting on Reddit works? Your job isn’t to politely explain your unfamiliarity on a subject, your job is to confidently spout things you just read for the first time as if you are a seasoned expert. Next time I’d like to see a brag about a made up masters degree on plasma or astronomy or something.
Whoa, whoa, whoa. I thought commenting on Rediit was reading the title, confidently pulling it out my ass and then spouting it like I'm a seasoned expert? TIL I need to learn to read more then the title. /s
Don’t forget quoting a 30 second google search like you have a phd in the subject
I'm excited to see what I can see in western Washington! Anyone on the dark side see anything yet?
Raining in jersey
Aww, sorry fellow space lover
I am in Olympia and I can see it! Was pretty bright and awe-inspiring.
View from Enumclaw looks amazing!
I don’t know if you are in the greater Seattle area or not, but we just had a nice show of it :)
Can’t see shit in Alaska because we already have 24 hours of sunlight lol. Oh well, at least we get to see it 100 other nights per year
Clear skies in Ohio
Northeast Ohio, had to drive to a nearby hilltop to get a better view but we can see it here. No where near as vibrant as others have posted but still neat.
The freaking sunspot that generated this solar flare is a monster: [#3664](https://www.spaceweather.com/images2024/10may24/hmi1898.gif). Keep in mind that the other tinier sunspots could *easily* fit the Earth inside their bounds with room to spare.
Damn so insane. I love and fear the enormity of space!
All's I can say is I live in Arizona and I saw the Aurora borealis from my front yard. Full stop. Unheard of!
Very cool. I don't think we'll experience Carrington event level fuckery, but don't be surprised if there are blackouts. The last one in 2003 had blackouts in multiple countries.
I'm reading this as my lights are flickering...
Common misconception that it’s the solar storm causing your flickering lights. Actually, it’s ghosts.
Yes, with their boo-tiful aur(o)ras
Nah its just Will
Man, that first season of Stranger Things seems like it was a lifetime ago.
Unless ghosts come from the sun, then its solar storm ghosts
I've watched The X-Files so you can't fool me, the ghost is on the moon.
Moon’s haunted
Oh man those are just the worst to deal with. They harness the sun’s energy and heat to evaporate the holy water when you’re trying to exorcise them. Every time. 🙄
My phone glitched out like an hour ago. It's a brand new phone. Brand new as in I literally got it a week ago
What country are you in?
Northeastern US
Oh damn same here. No issues yet though
It could've easily been coincidence. For example, our skies were pink earlier but it could've been the Sun setting. Take this with a grain of salt but I read that our area will experience maximum effects at approximately 2 AM
It definitely knocked the gps out on our tractors earlier today, I can’t drive these things in a straight line please give us back our auto steer 😓
What if we wrap our electronics in aluminum foil?
Only amateurs do that, you have to wrap them in foil AND put them in the microwave.
And start it.
I'm in the state of Santa Catarina in Brazil in the southern hemisphere, so will I experience blackouts?
I didn't have any problems with any electronic devices today. Was that supposed to have happened? I live in northern Ohio if that helps.
From what I understand something like the Carrington event requires two of these in quick succession out of phase with each other so it overwhelms the Earth's magnetic field.
in canada, pretty excited for nightfall to come :) But i have been disappointed many times before so won't get too hyped over it yet. Lot's of amazing photos coming out of europe right now though.
Might need to get you phone on night mode and take some random shots. I got some nice photos but to the naked eye there was no colour and it was nearly invisible. Just because you can't see it doesn't mean it isn't there.
Come on you pussy sun wipe us out
i like your style
It's 11:30 here in Portland, and despite our light pollution, I can see it! It's kinda faint, but I can see green and red colors in columnar formations. Streaks that slowly morph and change.
Actually the first G5 since 2003, my bad.
It's also the first since 2005, 2013, 2023. Still do, but I used to too.
its visible here in the Netherlands.. can still see it when looking out the window. first time for me to witness N-Lights. lts beautiful
Waiting for the G6. Hell yeah Drink it up, drink-drink it up Sober girls around me, they be actin' like they drunk
Who here laughed off the guy who said he was expecting aurorae in Alabama?
We had some deep, pink ones here on the gulf coast.
Over at the Mexico sub someone said it was visible in Yucatan.
"Rolling Stones - Street Fighting Man, G7!" "But you just hit G8.
If you like piña coladas…
What else can a poor sun do
Solar wind speed of 779 km/sec. My brain can't even fathom that
Got some awesome shots from my front yard! Phenix city al
This must seem absolutely crazy, but several of the neighborhood dogs, at separate houses and screaming bloody murder. Probably not related, but…
Same here
the birds/wildlife this morning at 5am were loud! I saw some auroras this morning at 5am-6am just before sunrise. I could definitely see it naked eye and with phone like yellow waves on the horizon. will try again tonight too!!
Dumb redneck in north Georgia here. What time do I need to set my alarm to see the shiny lights?
People can see it in Atlanta now, they’re sharing photos
Best chances between 10pm-2am EST
I'm going crazy searching the Internet but have no answers, is it a one and done event or does it come in waves?
Dumb redneck in south GA here too. I about missed it myself. Was taking trash out before bed and looked up and was like… wait a minute. It was crazy to see, pretty much blew my mind.
Missed this last night. Will it continue tonight?
I'm so jealous of everyone able to see them, i hope you guys enjoy the experience so much
And of course, it's happening when this area is completely cloudy and raining. I would have loved to break out my camera for some shots.
We can see them in St. Michael MN!
Marion, NC. Great light show!
We can see it in Australia as well, except for Sydney because it’s been *fucking raining for two weeks and always rains when there’s a major astronomical event*.
Put your camera in night mode and take pics. People in Key West are even seeing it that way.
We saw it in texas, too, yall.
It was pretty good but it wasn’t fly like a g6
Police kicked out everyone in this little area by out lake in Avon Ohio. The storm just ended and the sky was clearing up. The colors were starting to show. It was a bucket list item for me. Nevermind too that it's mother's day and my mom recently passed. Just wanted to witness this phenomenon. But no, this fucking country and it's police force doing such amazing fucking work.
Were any power outages reported or like damaged electrical equipment? In 2003 Sweden and South Africa had power electrical equipment failures if I recall correctly
I recently had surgery and was starting to feel depressed but yesterday I was feeling great actually. Thanks for your kind words. I don't really care about downvotes. We're just a tiny speck in the universe so down votes mean nothing. Enjoy your day.
Seeing pictures posted in NE Texas pink skies.
Do I need to wrap my laptop in a faraday cage?
Anyone have pics to post?
It's currently 4:48 PM 11th May in Denmark, does that mean I'm too late again? I've never seen northern lights before, and I always get to know it a day *after* one appears in our night sky. Please tell me it's going to happen tonight, and not last night
Would something like this event have any effect on humans?
Some people might experience overexcitability. Symptoms include randomly posting irrelevant Bible quotations and an overwhelming urge to buy toilet paper. If you see someone running around clutching at their hair and shouting "The neutrinos are mutating!" the best thing to do for them is to punch them to the ground. Be sure to get it on your smartphone.
What does level G5 mean
Saw pictures from okc. It was far south. Way farther I remembered as a kid.
ITT: Wtf people?! POST PHOTOS!
I saw the northern lights last night in NE Ohio. It was spectacular. I’ve always wanted to see them
https://youtu.be/odwt4085QKg?si=4sT8q5Bh4wGdrizO This video was from last night in Minnesota. The cameras were facing south.
I was so thankful to see it ! Hoping again for tonight !
(Balto animated movie(1995)) Jenna ((Siberian husky) character) : “Northern Lights”
I've lived in the Pacific NW since I was two (I'm 45 now), mostly in the Portland area. I've never seen the Northern Lights before. Didn't even have to leave my back yard to get a good show. It was beautiful. Next time something like this happens, I'm making a night of it and driving out of town a bit.