Archive
Possibility of an aurora (northern lights) late Friday night or early Saturday morning
http:www.spaceweather.com reports that a coronal mass ejection (CME) is heading toward the earth from the sun to arrive sometime about 2 a.m. EDT Saturday July 7th. So we may get to see an aurora. Active region 1515, the biggest sunspot group on the sun now is the culprit. It’s been kicking off lots of solar flares recently. The flare responsible was one of the ones that occurred yesterday, July 4th.
03/12/2012 – Ephemeris – Jupiter is level with Venus, also possible northern lights tonight
Ephemeris for Monday, March 12th. The sun will rise at 7:59. It’ll be up for 11 hours and 45 minutes, setting at 7:45. The moon, 2 days before last quarter, will rise at 1:33 tomorrow morning.
In the western evening sky, Jupiter and Venus are making a pass at each other. They shouldn’t, in the modern sense since Venus or Aphrodite of the Greeks was the daughter of Jupiter or Zeus. .Over this week we’ll watch as Jupiter slips below Venus to lead Venus in setting. Tonight Jupiter is level with and left of Venus. Venus will always be the brighter of the two. We also have an aurora watch for this evening. The sun has been active this weekend with a series of flares emanating from the largest sunspot group now visible called active region 1429. This group is rotating off so it’s flares soon won’t affect the earth. Check spaceweather.com for the latest. And check bobmoler.wordpress.com for an animation of the planet conjunction.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Jupiter and Venus at nightly intervals from March 12 to 16, 2012. Created using Stellarium.
The first frame of the animation is for tonight.
The sun is staying active – Check out the skies for the northern lights for the next few nights
Solar flares erupting from AR (Active Region) 1429, the big sunspot group now seen on the face of the sun, are sending clouds of charged particles toward the earth. Three flares in the last three days will provide an enhanced chance for auroral displays over the next few nights.
That’s both aurora borealis, northern lights and auroral australis, southern lights for or southern hemisphere friends.
Keep checking www.spaceweather.com for the latest information.
Also keep checking the western sky after sunset for Jupiter and Venus passing each other. These are the two brightest planets.
Another possible aurora due Tuesday January 24th, 2012
Just got this from http://www.spaceweather.com that a CME erupted from the sun today. It should reach the earth later tomorrow or early Wednesday. Look for aurorae (northern or southern lights depending on your hemisphere).
11/28/11 – Ephemeris – There may be an aurora tonight
Monday, November 28th. The sun will rise at 7:55. It’ll be up for 9 hours and 9 minutes, setting at 5:05. The moon, 3 days past new, will set at 8:53 this evening.
Last Saturday afternoon the sun let loose with an explosion that is sending a cloud of particles toward the earth. It was called a Coronal Mass Ejection or CME for short. As usual for these things, it takes about 48 hours give or take for the cloud of particles to reach the earth. The expected arrival time for the cloud is about noon, give or take 7 hours. If the cloud is a bit late we could get a display of the northern lights or aurora borealis. The sun is getting more active now after a prolonged minimum that lasted over 2 years. The sun is ramping up for a peak in sun spot numbers possibly in 2013. Although the numbers of aurorae occur mostly after peak, so we’re just starting our auroral season, so there will be more opportunities to come.
* Times, as always are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan.
Aurora visible tonight 10/24/11
Check out this image:
Aurora looking north at 10/24/2011 at 10:52 p.m.
According to SpaceWeather.com the earth was hit by a CME (Coronal Mass Ejection) at 2 p.m. eastern time. My thanks go to Sarah Johnson of Greenspire School for giving me the heads up on this. I’ve been busy working on my blog entries for later this week and was oblivious to the outside world.
Bad.
09/26/11 – Ephemeris – The sun is getting very active again
Monday, September 26th. The sun will rise at 7:34. It’ll be up for 11 hours and 58 minutes, setting at 7:32. The moon, 1 day before new, will rise at 7:53 tomorrow morning.
There is a large sunspot group rotating onto the earth facing side of the sun. It has already produced two large solar flares. Flares are explosions caused by the snapping of the magnetic field lines that cause the sunspots in the first place. The most energetic of these throw off a huge cloud of charged particles, protons, electrons, and alpha particles called a coronal mass ejection or CME at a couple of million miles an hour. It takes 36 to 48 hours for the cloud to reach the earth. Then it tangles with the earth’s magnetic field causing a geomagnetic storm. This is not good news for satellite operators and power and phone companies in the north. However for the rest of us, we get a chance to see the northern lights or Aurora Borealis. Saturday’s two flares from that sunspot group sent out a CME that we may catch the tail of later today.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
We might get an aurora (northern lights) tonight (August 5, 2011)
Also southern lights too. There was a big coronal mass ejection (CME) yesterday. Arrival time of the stuff at earth is thought to be 10 hours UT (6 a.m. EDT) plus or minus 7 hours. Though no reports yet. See Phil Plait’s Bad Astronomy for more on it. Also check out www.spaceweather.com.
A preview of the coming northern lights season*
Here’s a link to the mlive.com web site for an article on how great northern Michigan is to view the Northern Lights or Aurora Borealis. Here’s the link to Best northern lights viewing in Michigan by Kim Schneider.
An auroral display. Credit Bob Moler.
* The “aurora season” or “northern lights season” coincides with the coming solar or sunspot peak which is expected to occur in 2013, and last several years.
Tip o’the dew cap to Pat Stinson.
Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog 