Aurora sightings across the UK tonight
kiviraat
Posts: 4,634 Forum Member
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Just a heads up for anyone with clear skies that the Northern Lights are being seen as far south as Wales tonight. A 48 hour storm watch has been announced so keep your eyes peeled. I've just been out for a gander and they're beautiful tonight!
Virtual Astronomer on Twitter has been retweeting photos from the UK over the past few hours. Why not go out and have a look?
https://www.twitter.com/VirtualAstro
Virtual Astronomer on Twitter has been retweeting photos from the UK over the past few hours. Why not go out and have a look?
https://www.twitter.com/VirtualAstro
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Better late than never.
Clear skies down south but no lights.....
I actually found out via text from a friend - who'd seen breaking news on BBC News!
AuroraWatch UK http://aurorawatch.lancs.ac.uk/ are reporting an amber alert - a possible aurora - rather than a red alert which means a likely aurora display. Nothing was mentioned on the tea time weather forecasts either.
Lovely, clear, starry sky - but nothing out of the ordinary asides form that!
I'll be looking north!
Do they tend to report auroras on the weather forecast? Don't think I've ever seen them do that unless there's been a lot of activity on the sun. The yellow, amber and red just tend to tell you where in the UK you can see it from. We get yellow alerts/minor activity reported a lot at this time of year which can be seen where I am but not further south. It doesn't mean there is no activity at all in the UK. Watching local astronomy groups on FB etc can help give a heads up in your local area
In recent years, the BBC forecasts have certainly mentioned astronomical things to look out for like meteor showers and so on although with auroras it's very rare and lucky to see them in Cumbria, Ulster and North Yorkshire let alone southern England. It's a pity really because that might inspire people to take a greater interest in all things astronomical and meteorological (such as noctilucent clouds - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noctilucent_cloud - https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=noctilucent+clouds&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=m70PU9iROKev0QXNnoGACw&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1024&bih=610).
I agree with that - I just looked out the back door and whilst the sky was clear and the stars were glittering, there were, regrettably, no signs of any auroral shimmering curtains of light.
It's getting stronger, so fingers crossed it winds it's way down!
https://twitter.com/EpicCosmos/status/439169343075540992/photo/1
http://t.co/rEDvWIOBLw
I ventured past our village pub and got shouted at by some drunk guys, then went up the road uphill but it was all dark and creepy so I turned back. The sky is clear and the stars looked all pretty, though, and least I got some fresh air!
One day, one day...