frogesque

LASCO C3 vid of C6 flare http://www.spaceweather.com/images2007/24j.../cme_c3_med.gif

And others are just bonkers 8P Welcome Kev, nice to see a new face in SS&N

Update: http://sidc.oma.be/current/presto.html "PRESTO FROM SIDC - RWC BELGIUM Thu Jan 25 2007, 1228 UT An active region currently just behind the East limb (NOAA AR 0933 during the previous rotation) produced two long-duration flares: B9.0 peaking at 14:52 UT yesterday and C6.3 peaking at 07:12 today. Both flares were accompanied by wide CMEs, but the source region position behind the east limb makes their arrival to the Earth unlikely. More C and even M flares are probable from this active region. We expect the arrival of a fast solar wind stream from the low-latitude coronal hole in the southern hemisphere. Disturbed geomagnetic conditions up to the minor storm level are possible starting from January 28. "

From spaceweather "X-ray Solar Flares 6-hr max: C6 0715 UT Jan25 " LASCO C3 hasn't been updated since 17.42 (I think they use UT or GMT) on the 24th Jan but I'll be interested to see the vid when they get round to it. Looks as if a huge gob of stuff went off sideways when this flare blew. I've also checked back it's on the Eastern limb (LHS rotating towards Earth) not the West limb as I said earlier. I knew what I meant but I wish astronomers would be consistent with their conventions.

LASCO C2 and LASCO C3 show a CME coming over the western (LHS) of the Sun. GOES X-RAY only shows a pretty mild B9 flare but it's not Earth directed so could be larger. At least we are getting some activity

8.15am, large wet flakes.

Wet sleet here at the moment, could go either way as it gets dark.

About 1/2", 12mm wet snow here

Be wary of US hardiness zones, they don't translate well to the UK. We have wet milder winters with spurts of growth and snap frosts that are the death of some plants that can sustain dry freezing conditions in a dormant state.

Comet McNaught (C/2006 P1). Edit:Taken 10th. Jan. 2007 at 17.01 GMT.

No.4 All are cracking pics with good subject and composition but K-H waveclouds are so transient you have to be quick off your mark. The lighthouse and sky tone really make this special event 'work'.

Lancs has false alerts from time to time, probably ate too much Christmas pud . Nothing else is indicating heightened activity.

Hi Claudia: I think you may have been looking at this map http://www.sec.noaa.gov/pmap/pmapN.html which shows Activity Level on a scale from 1 to 10. It was very red and at 10 last night but the border only just brushed the northern tip of Scotland. I don't know how exactly its calculated but it is different from the Kp index. Kp is probably the most reliable indicator for the UK. Last week it reached 8 and while it produced aurora visible from Scotland and possibly into N England it wasn't spectacular - producing mostly bands of pale green luminous 'fog' in the NW with little structure although it did begin to pulse at times. The best colours were displayed very briefly as the storm subsided (this seems to happen sometimes) Aurora are magical. I've known them bright enough to read the time on a watch, I've seen a full and very dynamic coronal display almost directly overhead from a local substorm (magnificent!) and I've also seen weird shapes drift lazily over the sky. I have also seen intense red flames dancing and a brilliant writhing green rope hanging in the sky. All from Scotland. We don't often get good displays but when we do they often have much more interesting colours than the ones in say Norway or Alaska There's ususally a lot of dull and unintersting hanging about to do during a display but no two are ever the same and you never know when a boring piece of sky is going to erupt with rays and curtains. Watching a full display covering half the sky on a clear night would have almost anyone believing in gods and angels - it's the sheer scale of the whole phenomena that's so awe inspiring. A word of warning, photographs rarely do it justice. Somtimes the results are lurid whereas in real life the structure and colour are normally quite subtle (though not always) and I lowered the saturation on mine to something aproaching realistic. Cameras are very sensitive and pick up a lot of light and colour a dark adapted eye doesn't normally see but they can't record the dynamics of a fast show. Sorry - I kind of dribbled on a bit there http://nwstatic.co.uk/forum/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/unsure.gif

I wouldn't think so although it's worth a look out if the sky is clear and there might be some meteors, about (Ursids: 17-25th December, peaking on 22nd.) and it's a new moon or thereabouts. Just checked, Kp is only 5 at present so it would only be a very off chance for aurora - I'm clouded out and misty so can't see owt!

Aurora forcast currntly ACTIVE http://www.gedds.alaska.edu/AuroraForecast/ High solar wind speed from coronal hole. Could possibibly produce enough oommmph (technical term http://nwstatic.co.uk/forum/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif ) for aurora to be seen from the Northern tip of Scotland

Something cooking on the Eastern limb? Could be old spots 928 and 929 making a new apearance as 930 departs http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime/eit_284/512/

Was a cold clear frosty night here last night - went down to -5C on the greenhouse thermometer. I looked out a few times up 'till 1.00 am but couldn't see anything above the town light pollution so if there was anything it wouldn't have been spectacular. Have to wait and see if tonight brings anything.

Thanks for all the encouragement guys Mondy: Just go for it! Kp has been cooking for nearly 24 hours now so I'll be surprised if you can't see anything down your way. Lousy part of the world for light pollution though. http://nwstatic.co.uk/forum/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/dry.gif Still a bit hazy here with some stars just showing through. I'll keep checking but I'm not going far tonight http://nwstatic.co.uk/forum/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif

Well I went out - ended up just North of Aberdeen- bliddy light pollution! But it worked, I got into a rain shadow and had some clear sky. Got home at 6.00am. Result! Edit: aslo saw some nice meteors - don't know if I have any on camera - 300 pics to look through lol

Buggeritt!!! I'm going out anyway - too good a chance to miss - maybe head off toward Montrose Bz is yoyoing about which can be even better than a steady -ve (it produces a lot of broken flux lines when it does that and can kick off a sub-storm.

Kp just increased to 7

Auroral oval is expanding rapidly and heading into the brown(watch for it starting to turn red) . Activity level is maxed at 10

Yep it's pretty fast Shuggs - just hope there's some good -ve Bz component mixed in with it at the moment it's been hovering just slightly -ve. That said, substorms (when you get the best light shows) seem to happen when Bz makes a sudden change.

Yep, weather is a bummer Been tipping down again today but I'll keep checking. There's an off chance if I go to the NE coast I'll be in a rain shadow with maybe some cloudbreaks but at the moment I'm not hopefull. It's also not my first choice of location because of the light pollution from Dundee

This baby is fast! CME has arrived early. Spaceweather: "AURORA ALERT: Sky watchers, be alert for auroras. A coronal mass ejection (CME) hit Earth today at approximately 1400 UT, and the impact may cause strong geomagnetic storms. Stay tuned for updates. The CME was hurled toward Earth on Dec. 13th by an X3-class explosion from sunspot 930:" EDIT: Kp already at 6