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Northern Lights Not So Northern

Posted by timothy on from the run-outside-right-now dept.

Several readers have written with news of an unusual display of the Aurora Borealis, among them Georgie Porgie, who writes: "Crawl away from those terminals and step out side for a view of the norther lights... I am in Columbia, Missouri, USA Approx 39.9 N latitude and I am looking at the northern lights... Hope the networks are up tommorow... See what causes the lights at http://www.spaceweather.com/" fjordboy points to this excellent noaa.gov link, too.

6 of 23 comments (clear)

  1. Pretty by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    More pretty pictures from the BBC

  2. Fading, but still visible by CheshireCatCO · · Score: 3, Informative

    I just saw them from within Boulder, CO (40 degrees N latitude). Yes, from inside Boulder proper, despite the city lights. So darker sky sites should have better luck. They were pretty identifiable as a pale green glow to the north. Unfortunately, they appear to be fading, now. So go out now!

  3. Giant Green Blob by gnovos · · Score: 3, Funny

    I saw a giant green blob today too, here in San Francisco. It was from 8:15 to about 10:00. Reportedly it was caused by Pixar... Oh, and there was a strange Star Wars teaser before the blob started...

    --
    "Your superior intellect is no match for our puny weapons!"
  4. try this again... by evacuate_the_bull · · Score: 3, Informative

    the national geographic url is:

    http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/data/2001/ 11/01/html/ft_20011101.3.html

    (gotta love html ;) )

    --
    Satanists get good grades too...suspiciously good grades
  5. Re:It should be green not red! by Milalwi · · Score: 3, Informative

    What strikes me about these images is that the Aurora is very red in these images. The aurora was always green when I saw it. Rarely there would be a little red in it for a short time.
    The red is caused by a higher energy effect. If I remember correctly, it is caused by Oxygen molecules. So during a CME it's not surprising you would see red aurora.

    From Alaska.edu:

    All-red auroras are seen near the beginnings of large magnetic storms, and only during some of these. At such times, large numbers of electrons originating on the sun stream into the high atmosphere. There they strike oxygen atoms resident at altitudes 200 to 500 km and cause them to emit quanta of pure red light. Normal green auroras and green auroras tinged with reddish lower borders occur at much lower altitude, typically near 100 km. The electrons that produce these auroras are more energetic than those creating blood-red auroras so they penetrate more deeply into the atmosphere. During their passage through the upper reaches, these electrons also cause red emissions from oxygen atoms but the red color usually is so much weaker than the green that it is detected only with special instruments.


    Milalwi
  6. Red Aurora by winterstorm · · Score: 3, Informative

    Last night in Edmonton, Canada the Aurora was incredible. However that is nothing unusual since we get to see the Northern Lights all the time here in the north. Last night was the first time I've seen the light RED however. The normal green kind were visible but there was a hazy red type as well. The lights were not the normal shape either; they did not appear to "dance" but at time made a large arc across the whole sky, the dispersed to make a huge crown in the sky with the red and green parts overlapping each other.