Second Chance of Possible Northern Lights

muffler

irlpic wrote: »

I heard this name before. Where abouts is it?

Might be spelt..."Drachard"

When you leave the Cross and go up through Lismulladuff you can turn right to go aver Sallywood direction and on to the twin towns. But instead of turning right just keep on straight and up the hill. Up near the top of this hill is known as Drachard. Its possibly even part of Lismulladuff townland. There are 2 separate roads at the top of the hill and to the left which take you into Cronalaghy.

If you were to continue on straight you would end up in Meenreagh not far from the old school/social centre. To get the best view of the skies I think you would have to go past Drachard a little and over the road to Meenreagh.

Here's a link to Drachard. if you look a little bit further north/north west you will see a wee road that turns up left at Meenahinnis. That takes you up to where "White Mickey" lived. Im sure you have heard of him. There's a fantastic unobstructed view at the top of that road.

irlpic

Thats a fresh part of the country up there Muffler. That map is a great job showing the maze of roads available up there. I'm gonna scout it out during the daytime this week and try to find a good spot. I can see this ending up in a neighborhood-watch garda callout !

muffler

irlpic wrote: »

I can see this ending up in a neighborhood-watch garda callout !

Those people never indulge in such things as neighbourhood watch. They have their own way of dealing with strangers

muffler

muffler wrote: »

if you look a little bit further north/north west you will see a wee road that turns up left at Meenahinnis. That takes you up to where "White Mickey" lived. Im sure you have heard of him. There's a fantastic unobstructed view at the top of that road.

I'd highly recommend a trip up this wee road but just be warned that even though the map may show a road continuing on through it you would really need to turn and go back downhill again as the "road" as shown on map is more of a cart track.

Actually its the road on the map that is located where you see "Gortahork". Theres a crossroads there so just turn up left (coming from the Cross direction)

When you get as far as the point marked with the red cross hair on this link I think you should turn there. Its a good few years since i was up there and the road/cart track only runs through a bog after that point. In saying that it may have changed but I doubt it.

ednwireland

no northern lights but i did see the ISS (or at least i presume thats what it was fast moving bright light)

Donegal Skies

Would there not be a bit on light pollution glow from Ballybofey, Letterkenny and Derry along the northern Horizon? I never bothered going up there to see the aurora because looking at the maps I just presumed there would be light pollution domes on the northern horizon? No doubt it would be a lovely dark sky up there for stargazing although you really need a pristine northern horizon to see the northern lights from these latitudes.

I could be wrong about the northern horizon?

Brendan

irish1967

Kinda connected I guess but if there are no clouds tomorrow evening there's a good chance to see the International Space Station. I've seen it once it's a cool thing to see. Here's the details for tomorrow night.

muffler

Donegal Skies wrote: »

Would there not be a bit on light pollution glow from Ballybofey, Letterkenny and Derry along the northern Horizon?

Possibly, yes. The only saving grace is that the towns are all at a much lower level so vertical light should be at a minimum (I think)

muckish

Auroras last night visible in Donegal. Higher Kp value predicted for tonight, so keep an eye out for breaks in the cloud and watch the northern horizon. Could be good.

Donegal Skies

After witnessing my first aurora display at the start of the month, I couldn’t believe my luck when I saw the aurora forecast charts for tonight (10/11 March 2011).

I had a very busy evening with work and the like so I didn’t get a chance to head to a dark site on till almost midnight. My camera is still out of action (like it was for my first display) so I had to get a loan of one. The weather was terrible all evening but there were only a few, very brief clear spells all evening so I headed up to Hornhead, on the north coast of Donegal hoping for the best. When I arrived at the site at 00:30, no sooner had I the camera on the tripod when an almightyfull hail shower started. Cue the mad dash for the car!! Resulting in me breaking my shutter release cable, not a problem I had a spare in the car….. Only I had no batteries for it!! Ok, so now I am limited to 30sec exposures. The shower passes and I head back out to the gale force winds only to see the only patch of sky with cloud was the north, typical!! I struggle in the wind for the next while and the cloud continued to linger to the north. I eventually packed it in after capturing this fairly poor image but working in the gale force wind, on the top of a cliff on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean was almost impossible! But Still my first, albeit poor aurora image!



Donegal Aurora by Donegal Skies, on Flickr

Details:
Time & Date: 01:30 11 March 2011
Camera: Canon 1000D & 18-55mm kit lens
Settings: 30sec, ISO 1600, FL:18mm F:3.5

As Muckish says, great image BTW, there is a great chance of aurora activity tonight. Watch the charts if your interested in seeing them and you don't mind taking on the weather.

All the best,

Brendan

gleep

These have been appearing a lot recently in the North of the country, is this unusual? I'd really like to get a chanv=ce to see them, does anyone have any tips for viewing in Donegal / Derry?

muckish

Donegal Skies wrote: »

I had a very busy evening with work and the like so I didn’t get a chance to head to a dark site on till almost midnight. The weather was terrible all evening but there were only a few, very brief clear spells all evening so I headed up to Hornhead, on the north coast of Donegal hoping for the best. When I arrived at the site at 00:30, no sooner had I the camera on the tripod when an almightyfull hail shower started. I struggle in the wind for the next while and the cloud continued to linger to the north. I eventually packed it in after capturing this fairly poor image but working in the gale force wind, on the top of a cliff on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean was almost impossible! But Still my first, albeit poor aurora image!

Sympathies with the weather last night Brendan. I only lasted 20minutes. Had to dash out the door when I saw the clear skies and and forgot my gloves. I'll probably head out again tonight if the weather looks anyway promising (not looking good yet!). Might head out to Horn Head. I see by your photo you've pulled in at the layby with the stone wall circle shelter thingy. I think it's a really good photo. Did you shoot in RAW or jpeg? I find RAW with a bit of processing afterwards will get the best results. ISO1600 is a little bit noisey. I reckon 800 is plenty. I like the clouds in front of the aurora and the hint of the upper red display.

Donegal Skies

Yeah that’s where I was, there was one hell of a wind blowing up there tho. I just done a quick pro on the Jpeg last night. Still have the RAW file there and was planning on working on it over the weekend. I pushed the ISO up to 1600 to try and pick up Hornhead. As I say I could only shout 30sec exposures cos I broke my cable shutter release up there. I would normally go a bit long like 45-60sec and ISO800 for something like and take a dark frame too but I even forgot that in the mad rush to get out of that weather. I was out an hour. If the temp is similar tonight ill shout a dark frame and work on the RAW file over the weekend.

Donegal Skies

gleep, The sun is reaching solar max in 2013. This is when it is at it most active for 11 years or so resulting in more aurora activity. Also the time of year around the equinox is best for viewing aurora so it's a pretty good time now. As for how to see them and predict when they will occur you should follow the links posted earlier in the this thread and read through the article on the aurora on these websites.

Clear Skies,

Brendan

Donegal Skies

Thought I better not start a new thread so I'll post this here:

It is now possible to see the ISS blaze across the sky every morning, twice on some occasions, up until 8th April. All you need are some clear Donegal skies! The ISS is visible as a very bright point of light appearing approximately 10° above southern and western horizons. It will travel quickly across the seemingly stationary backdrop of stars. The fact that it contains no flashing lights, red or otherwise, makes it easily distinguishable from aeroplanes. The table below outlines the times and locations at which the ISS will be visible moving across the sky each morning. It can be fun to see if the ISS passes close by to any bright stars or planets from your location, differing across Donegal. The ISS is so bright because its large surface reflects sunlight. At the end of each pass, the space station appears to vanish from the sky as it enters the Earth’s shadow, thus blocking sunlight from reflecting off it.

If the clouds part before the 8th April, why not pop outside for a few minutes to catch a glimpse of this spectacular object blazing across our skies, knowing that someone could well be looking back in your direction from the edge of space!
Details of the ISS passes over Donegal are attached.

Donegal Skies

Also you can read about the ISS passes over donegal here:

http://www.donegaldaily.com/2011/03/30/international-space-station-to-pass-over-donegal-skies-up-until-april-8th/

Clear Skies,

Brendan

Peace

Hi,

There was an article in the undo yesterday saying that the northern lights were visible at the moment from the north of the country. Can anyone confirm if they are visible?

Thanks

muffler

I read somewhere that they were seen last night at Malin Head but there will be more sightings over the next few weeks. AFAIK there is no set time or date so its just a case of watching and waiting.

Penfailed

It's been all over the radio and press recently. It has been too overcast for me to even try to spot them...I'll be keeping an eye out though. Saw them ten or eleven years ago in both Donegal and Mid-Ulster - fantastic sight :cool:

muffler

Just when I think of it I'll merge this with a thread from last year.

Harps

No idea why that's all cropped up in the past few days, seen a few articles in the papers about it all right. I don't know much about it but read on the weather forum over the past few days that there's no chance of seeing them this week

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056383887&page=7

Penfailed

Harps wrote: »

No idea why that's all cropped up in the past few days

Because there's been an increase in recent solar flare activity

teddansonswig

would I be mad in thinking Belmullet (co.mayo) would be a good place to sit and hope for the lights? its fairly dark and looks north-west.....

Harps

Penfailed wrote: »

Because there's been an increase in recent solar flare activity

Yeah but if you read that thread it says that there's no chance to see anything at the moment, the pic of Ballyliffin used in those articles was taken back in March.

Seems there's statistically a better chance at this time of year but people have been confused into thinking they're visible right now

teddansonswig wrote: »

would I be mad in thinking Belmullet (co.mayo) would be a good place to sit and hope for the lights? its fairly dark and looks north-west.....

Think the further north you are the better but on a good clear night you might see something looking out over the sea, not sure how far south they usually reach

muckish

Penfailed wrote: »

Because there's been an increase in recent solar flare activity

No there hasn't. The sun is very inactive at the moment and has been for the past 2 months or so. The KP index is a measure of the intesity of the solar storm from 0-9. At this lattitude in Donegal we need at least a KP5 to see the aurora on the horizon. The KP index has hardly risen above 2-3 recently. Currently we are near the maximum of the solar cycle where it should be at it's most active in a 11year cycle. But this cycle is behaving strangley. There are lots of sunspots but very few of them are producing M or X class flares. Statistically this is the best time of the year to view the aurora, but at the moment there's no chance. The aurora was not seen the other night from Inishowen; The photo used was taken on the 1st of March 2011 by a photographer in Inishowen from Pollan Beach.
The media have grabbed this story (possibly because there's no snow to talk about!) and run with it as a science feature. They have portrayed it as if you could drive out to Ballyliffin on any clear night over the next month or so and expect to see the northern lights on cue.

muckish

teddansonswig wrote: »

would I be mad in thinking Belmullet (co.mayo) would be a good place to sit and hope for the lights? its fairly dark and looks north-west.....

Depends on the intensity of the storm. KP5 for Donegal and probably a KP for Cork so probably around a 6-5.5 in Mayo. So you should have a good chance of seeing something if you have a good view of the horizon and there's an intense storm in place. There are plenty of websites which monitor the current KP index. www.spaceweather.com or www.spaceweatherlive.com etc.

Penfailed

muckish wrote: »

No there hasn't. The sun is very inactive at the moment and has been for the past 2 months or so. The KP index is a measure of the intesity of the solar storm from 0-9. At this lattitude in Donegal we need at least a KP5 to see the aurora on the horizon. The KP index has hardly risen above 2-3 recently. Currently we are near the maximum of the solar cycle where it should be at it's most active in a 11year cycle. But this cycle is behaving strangley. There are lots of sunspots but very few of them are producing M or X class flares. Statistically this is the best time of the year to view the aurora, but at the moment there's no chance. The aurora was not seen the other night from Inishowen; The photo used was taken on the 1st of March 2011 by a photographer in Inishowen from Pollan Beach.
The media have grabbed this story (possibly because there's no snow to talk about!) and run with it as a science feature. They have portrayed it as if you could drive out to Ballyliffin on any clear night over the next month or so and expect to see the northern lights on cue.

Ah...I stand corrected

Cul a cnoic

muckish wrote: »

No there hasn't. The sun is very inactive at the moment and has been for the past 2 months or so. The KP index is a measure of the intesity of the solar storm from 0-9. At this lattitude in Donegal we need at least a KP5 to see the aurora on the horizon. The KP index has hardly risen above 2-3 recently. Currently we are near the maximum of the solar cycle where it should be at it's most active in a 11year cycle. But this cycle is behaving strangley. There are lots of sunspots but very few of them are producing M or X class flares. Statistically this is the best time of the year to view the aurora, but at the moment there's no chance. The aurora was not seen the other night from Inishowen; The photo used was taken on the 1st of March 2011 by a photographer in Inishowen from Pollan Beach.
The media have grabbed this story (possibly because there's no snow to talk about!) and run with it as a science feature. They have portrayed it as if you could drive out to Ballyliffin on any clear night over the next month or so and expect to see the northern lights on cue.

Thanks Muckish for that, was planning a drive up there whenever the skies improved. Can't look at a paper of late but its mentioned.

slimboyfat

What are the chances??

Active sunspot 1401 erupted today, Jan. 19th, between 15:15 and 16:30 UT. The long-duration blast produced an M3-class solar flare and a CME that appears to be heading toward Earth

Analysts at the Goddard Space Weather Lab confirm that the CME is heading for Earth, and they say strong geomagnetic storms are possible when the cloud arrives during the late hours of Jan. 21st.

http://www.spaceweather.com/

donegal_road

apparently a geomagnetic storm in 1989 resulted in the northern lights being visible from as far south as Texas!