Nice Aurora Last Night

[Son of a Beach]

Did anybody else see the aurora australis last night? It wasn't terribly bright or colourful, but it was quite extensive in size. At times it occupied a fairly wide expanse with waves moving across the sky like many search lights fading in and out. It was well above the horizon too.

I posted about the high probability of an aurora to my (recently and begrudgingly revived) facebook account just before dark last night and got quite a few people following the facebook discussion and wanting to send them updates by phone, SMS and facebook as soon as I saw anything. I know of at least 10 people who got to see it after reading about it there, including three Taiwanese people staying at my sisters house.

Anyhow... 'tis a beautiful world we live in!

[Tortoise]

I really must do something about joining facebook. I was awake till late last night but didn't go outside

[Son of a Beach]

It was at its best (that I saw) at about 9:15pm. Might have got better later, but I went inside about 9:30pm.

Didn't even need a late night.

[stepbystep]

I was out for 4 hrs. Just beautiful. Could actually see it above Hobart from inside my house!

Much better at the beach though

[phan_TOM]

Something I would love to see. I was hiking in the Canadian Rocky Mountains a few years ago and even though there 'had been' a lot of aurora activity there was none while I was there, I only missed out by days apparently

Could actually see it above Hobart from inside my house!

Braggart!

Anyone get any pics?

[stepbystep]

Something I would love to see. I was hiking in the Canadian Rocky Mountains a few years ago and even though there 'had been' a lot of aurora activity there was none while I was there, I only missed out by days apparently

Could actually see it above Hobart from inside my house!

Braggart!

Anyone get any pics?

Here's a crap one From Howden.

If you go to the Facebook page 'Aurora Australis Tasmania' There are some beauties!

[Tortoise]

So does anyone know if it's likely to display again in the next few nights? Can't remember where to look for that.

[shazcol]

I find this link the best way to monitor for possible Aurora activity.
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/pmap/OverviewS.html

When the red gets close to Tassie start looking. You can go to the FTP site and look at past images from any time to get a comparison. It showed over quite a bit of Southern Tassie last night.

Decaying Auroral activity

AuroraImage.jpg (174.43 KiB) Viewed 8837 times

you can also monitor here and as you will see at the moment there is a decaying geomagnetic storm
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/index.html

[stepbystep]

So does anyone know if it's likely to display again in the next few nights? Can't remember where to look for that.

Doubtful tonight the CME(Coronal Mass Ejection) is dying off, this is a blast of solar wind that left the sun 3 days ago.

If you have a smartphone their are various 'apps'. For the iPhone I use one called 'Solar Monitor' It gives all the data required and also gives 'push' notifiacations when an aurora is most likely.
There are a number of factors other than the position of the auroral oval to get a good show. Most notable an IMF Bz number tilted to the south and of -6 or lower. If it's tilted to the north the solar wind bounces off the magnetosphere and hence the aurora won't happen despite what the oval is doing. The other big one is the planetary K index and the speed of the solar wind. All this data is easily monitored on the app.

There's all sort of other factors too, that's why when everything lines up you just go!

[Overlandman]

I could see it from Ulverstone, went inside & had a look at

http://www.ips.gov.au/Geophysical/2/4

And there were no alerts, The prediction tool also didnt show anything close to Tasmania

http://www.ips.gov.au/Geophysical/4/1

A work mate said it was colourfull at Round Hill, had photos on his ipad.
I will have a look at your site shazcol,
Regards Overlandman

[Overlandman]

There is an Aurora alert out for tonight & tomorrow night
Regards Overlandman

SUBJ: IPS AURORA ALERT HIGH LATITUDES
ISSUED AT 0920 UT ON 18 May 2013 BY IPS RADIO AND SPACE SERVICES
FROM THE AUSTRALIAN SPACE FORECAST CENTRE


Geomagnetic storm in progress. Aurora may be observed
during local night time hours in good observing conditions
at high latitudes (e.g. Hobart, Tas).
Follow the progress of this event on the IPS web site
by following the links to the Space Weather Status Panel,
Home > Space Weather

IPS would appreciate any feedback from people observing an
aurora giving details of location and time. Please email to
ips-aurora-sightings@ips.gov.au