Aurora Prospects 2012

Deep Easterly

Harps wrote: »

Plenty of good pics on the Donegal Weather Channel on facebook, looks like it was a great show

There is another one taken from Connemara tonight but can't see anything from here at all.

Can't believe I missed it! Are there any alerts that Astronomy Ireland or anyone sends out to alert of possible Auroras over Ireland?

Or should I just subscribe to this thread? :pac:

ChickenBalls

Just back(to the office) from a run out by Pfizer (near Clondalkin) - http://goo.gl/maps/Go6h7
It's a little cloudy but I saw the green aurora for sure - some of the clouds had a hint of green too! Forgot my Canon D60 today thou

Fully Established

I think i saw the same colours in the sky thats if you were looking to the northeast but i don't believe it was the northern lights i think it was only light refraction from street lights or a sports complex with flood lights unfortunately .http://www.gi.alaska.edu/AuroraForecast/Europe/2012/10/10

ChickenBalls

Yeah you must be right! Was convinced it was the Aurora... oh well....

Iancar29

Possible aurora visible from Tralee due to a sporadic section of the field ..

seen that over town lads was it?... it was underneath the clouds so it had to be artificial light..

Fully Established

A pity but thats what i took the light to be since it was just under the cloud base , anyway we shall watch and hope . Iancar29 where did you get the info about the possible aurora over tralee .

Mountainsandh

I was looking at that spot on Google this evening... https://maps.google.ie/maps?hl=en&ll=71.168788,25.779694&spn=0.000007,0.010568&t=h&z=17&layer=c&cbll=71.168788,25.779694&panoid=werWRV9nNwY0616XsV5B7w&cbp=12,334.21,,0,-10.23

Have a camper, but wouldn't fancy the trip in winter tbh, I'm too much of a scaredy cat for driving there then, would there be auroras visible up there even in July ? Only dreaming of course, fat chance we'd have enough money for the trip...

note to self : play lotto more often.

Harps

24 hours daylight up there at that time of year so no chance you'd be seeing anything!

Mountainsandh

Harps wrote: »

24 hours daylight up there at that time of year so no chance you'd be seeing anything!

Yeah I just realized that after I posted and was just reading about the midnight sun !

I guess if I ever do want to go I'll have to go in winter, although I was reading someone's blog, and they were saying it tends to be very foggy there, and so you're never guaranteed to see anything. And since there's nothing much else around, you'd really want to dedicate several days there, on the off chance you'll get good weather... Don't think I'd go for that.

Elmer Blooker

keith123 wrote: »

Just back(to the office) from a run out by Pfizer (near Clondalkin) - http://goo.gl/maps/Go6h7
It's a little cloudy but I saw the green aurora for sure - some of the clouds had a hint of green too! Forgot my Canon D60 today thou

my daughter came in around 9 o clock and said "the sky's all green" - I ran outside thinking aurora but it was only the floodlights from Parnell Park in Donnyer lighting up the very low clouds

delw

Elmer Blooker wrote: »

my daughter came in around 9 o clock and said "the sky's all green" - I ran outside thinking aurora but it was only the floodlights from Parnell Park in Donnyer lighting up the very low clouds

Noticed that myself on the way home from work

Iancar29

Aurora Activty high ATM , possibly visible from the north. Dying with man flu atm so I'm off to try sleep..

Pangea

Iancar29 wrote: »

Aurora Activty high ATM , possibly visible from the north. Dying with man flu atm so I'm off to try sleep..

Went up to 6 KP last night, I'd say it caught most people off guard.

Pangea

Will it be cloudy tonight?

in 5 minutes, the Geomagnetic Activity level (Kp number) will be 5.67 -- at 'STORM' LEVEL!

maquiladora

Pangea wrote: »

Will it be cloudy tonight?

in 5 minutes, the Geomagnetic Activity level (Kp number) will be 5.67 -- at 'STORM' LEVEL!

Thats too low to be visible here. Needs to be at least 7.

Pangea

maquiladora wrote: »

Thats too low to be visible here. Needs to be at least 7.

Maybe down south,
Needs to be around 5 here in Ulster.

in 12 minutes, the Geomagnetic Activity level (Kp number) will be 6.33 -- at 'STORM' LEVEL! (It's On!!)

maquiladora

Pangea wrote: »

Maybe down south,
Needs to be around 5 here in Ulster.

in 12 minutes, the Geomagnetic Activity level (Kp number) will be 6.33 -- at 'STORM' LEVEL! (It's On!!)

Nah would need 8-9 down south here.

sparrowcar

Would I see this from a dark spot in North Dublin? I would have thought I'd need 7-8kp?

lolie

Pangea wrote: »

Maybe down south,
Needs to be around 5 here in Ulster.

in 12 minutes, the Geomagnetic Activity level (Kp number) will be 6.33 -- at 'STORM' LEVEL! (It's On!!)

KP 6 now but looking at sat.24 and outside its cloudy up north so not looking good. Is it cloudy there?

Pangea

maquiladora wrote: »

Nah would need 8-9 down south here.

I saw another map before and the 5 was where the 7 is on that map
The aurora is seen around here when its 5.
It was seen down south a few nights ago and it wasn't 8 then.

lolie wrote: »

KP 6 now but looking at sat.24 and outside its cloudy up north so not looking good. Is it cloudy there?

Yeah cloudy

redsteveireland

Reports on Facebook of sightings in Mayo tonight, look north! Too much light pollution around here.

lolie

I wonder are some of the sightings just light pollution?
Plenty of glow in the cloud here with towns in the distance.

Iancar29

From mayo there wouldnt be much light pollution in the first place haha, im dying with man flu so wont be able to venture out for a looksy.. but id definitely say donegal must be seeing something ..

maquiladora

lolie

Looking at sat.24 i'd say all their seeing in donegal is cloud unfortunately:(

From met.ie:
Tonight

It will be a cold night with clear spells and it will be mainly dry at first. However the cloud and rain along the north coast will spread southwards overnight and will affect most of Ulster, north Leinster and north Connacht by dawn.

John mac

just been out for last 20 mins . nothing to report from here (54N) mayo even with a 25 second exposure

lovely clear sky to the north.

AdrianII

John mac wrote: »

just been out for last 20 mins . nothing to report from here (54N) mayo even with a 25 second exposure

lovely clear sky to the north.

Same here. Took a spin up past bettystown in Meath, no joy at all

muckish

There's a bit of aurora fever setting now. Too many people have suddenly become Aurora experts and any glow in the sky is suddenly an aurora sighting. Check lastnight DWC facebook page for instance!! Don't regard the KP index as gospel as to when an aurora will be visible. There are other variables involved for it to be sighted over Ireland. Those KP maps are for over head viewing so a KP7 means that a KP5 level aurora would be visible on the horizon at that latitude.
Last night, eventhough the KP index went up to 6, there was no aurora visible from Ireland. The IMF has tilted back to north. We really need a strong south orientated IMF for starters. Then a strong Solar wind speed etc....
There is a huge chance for everyone to see the Aurora at some stage this year, but with all the false reporting and predictions etc people are quickly going to get aurora fatigue and give up on going out in the middle of the night. So remember the cry wolf stories and keep the predictions realistic. (and the photos as well).

slimboyfat

Says it all really, he should just stick to the weather and he cant get that right either sometimes!!