Aurora potentially visible under clear skies tonight

_Whimsical_

Irish Weather Facebook is saying there's aurora potential tonight under clear skies in Ireland. Any opinions on the likelihood or where might get the best view if it comes to pass?
Beautiful blue skies all day in Galway, hope it's good elsewhere.

The prediction is based on this :
Severe Weather Europe
AURORAL ACTIVITY WARNING! A severe G4-class geomagnetic storm is underway in response to a CME impact. Auroras may be visible as far south as the central France, Alps, Slovakia, Ukraine across Europe.



https://www.facebook.com/severeweatherEU/photos/a.1423656947857402.1073741825.1377757209114043/1651619521727809/?type=1

John mac

http://www.aurora-service.eu/aurora-forecast/

good page to keep an eye on .

maquiladora

Impressive. Just 0.3 shy of a G5 (extreme) storm.



Very intense aurora over Alaska at the moment. Beautiful.

Rikand

John mac wrote: »

http://www.aurora-service.eu/aurora-forecast/

good page to keep an eye on .

That's awesome!

Full coverage over Ireland if we're lucky to still have it going at nightfall and have clear skies

maquiladora

Rikand wrote: »

That's awesome!

Full coverage over Ireland if we're lucky to still have it going at nightfall and have clear skies

Keep an eye on the forecast here (and check out the cool playback) as the aurora isn't evenly distributed.

http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/30-minute-aurora-forecast

Update from Solarham

Sky watchers across Northern Europe, the UK and Scandinavia should experience brilliant aurora displays this evening.

vickers209

Would it be visable as far south as dublin/wicklow

fits

Was very strong here in Finland. Could see it from city centre. Gone quiet now.

fits

Oh no actually it isn't at all. Sky is completely lit up! Amazing display!

Skud

http://www.spaceweatherlive.com/en/auroral-activity/webcams

unreal!

dirtyghettokid

went out with the camera just there... i did see something but i'm not sure what it is. copying stuff off the card now.. will post a pic as soon as i can.

i'm in north county dublin btw, not too far from the naul

there's clear sky when you look up, but near the horizon is foggy type haze

maquiladora

Should be visible over the north now if there's any clear weather.

dirtyghettokid

faint aurora for paddys day? by dgk905, on Flickr

NIKON D7100 / ISO 640 / f/3.5 / 18mm / 20sec exposure

thecretinhop

I assume you should be looking North for this?

Rock Lesnar

Skies are clear here, cant see a thing

sunbeam

Seems to be a faint band of light in the northern hemisphere here in Achill now, unfortunately semi-obscured by cloud.

deise08

Nothing but cloud in Waterford

fits

Keep looking. Its coming and going here all the time. Rarely a better chance to catch it in Ireland I reckon.

Rikand

rarely a better chance, except for the big swathe of cloud across the middle of the country

Never get to see anything good in the midlands!

sunbeam

Now a few streaming pillars of light, but still very faint. Still, I haven't seen this for years so won't complain.

dirtyghettokid

whatever's there is very faint

first two taken on 5d mark ii / 24-105mm @ 24mm / f/4 / 20sec exposure / iso 2000
faint sky by dgk905, on Flickr

faint sky by dgk905, on Flickr

nikon D7100 / 18mm / f/2.5 / 20 sec exposure / iso 640
faint sky by dgk905, on Flickr

Calina

Sky to the north has a blanket of mist. As the sky is clear straight overhead it's frustrating.

thecretinhop

Just saw it in Galway very cool!! Very faint should be better later when it gets darker Green shimmer very very faint but visible

mel.b

thecretinhop wrote: »

Just saw it in Galway very cool!! Very faint should be better later when it gets darker Green shimmer very very faint but visible

I'm looking north towards Galway but have the faint lights of the city on my horizon. Not sure if i will see anything but this has given me hope

thecretinhop

Yep lucky here no real light facing north. Earlier it was just a green blur, but now it's a shimmering pale band above horizon very cool. very very faint but amazing to see. Will try to get photos if possible

mel.b

thecretinhop wrote: »

Yep lucky here no real light facing north. Earlier it was just a green blur, but now it's a shimmering pale band above horizon very cool. very very faint but amazing to see. Will try to get photos if possible

Awesome sadly i can't think of anywhere within a reasonable driving distance that will give me a view if the horizon without having the galway lights in it

_Whimsical_

thecretinhop wrote: »

Just saw it in Galway very cool!! Very faint should be better later when it gets darker Green shimmer very very faint but visible

Where in Galway are you?

I'm really sick tonight, can't go out, can hardly stay awake but definitely cannot go to sleep if there's a vague chance of seeing the aurora from my window. Seeing it is top of my bucket list!

thecretinhop

Claregalway away from town away from city. very faint going out soon again, will report in. looking north over curragh line, hence no light pollution. Pretty sure Galway city lights would ruin view, if it gets stronger later perhaps ok.

_Whimsical_

thecretinhop wrote: »

Claregalway away from town away from city. very faint going out soon again, will report in. looking north over curragh line, hence no light pollution. Pretty sure Galway city lights would ruin view, if it gets stronger later perhaps ok.

Ah I'm in the city. Still I predict a night of being glued to the window.
I hope you see more where you are.

sunbeam

Skies have cleared a bit here. Now there is a large pale arc of light sitting quietly above the northern horizon, with some mist beneath it. I was really hoping for a better show but suppose it is early in the night yet.

mel.b

Sadly i've given up for the night. A combination of light pollution and clouds i think means i'm highly unlikely to see anything 😟 good luck to those staying up & looking

sunbeam

And we have liftoff!

Faint beams are now aiming upwards....

thecretinhop

Yes just saw them!! A bit worried about cloud coming in from west though. Can't get camera to work grrr.. Lol bit of technophobe going out again soon came in to warm up!

sunbeam

Pillars of faint light are now approaching zenith. Still just pale white though.

thecretinhop

Somewhat green here!

sunbeam

They seem to have retreated back towards the horizon for the moment.

mosstin

Pale white visible in Sligo tonight also. Has faded somewhat in the past 30 mins. Lovely to witness for about 15 minutes.

sunbeam

They seem to have all but disappeared here now. Time for bed I think.

thecretinhop

Cloud from west ah well never seen it before very good

fits

taken from my apartment window in town centre in Finland with Lumia 925.

I just sat at the window for ages and watched. lovely

Tim the Enchanter

Taken from twitter - visible over Waterford/Tipp

deise08

Aurora forecaster is forbidden on my server. what's the hopes of seeing to lights tonight? When would be the best time?

jfSDAS

hi Deise08,

http://www.spaceweather.com is suggesting the storm is subsiding now.

Can you access the above site or the following?

http://aurorawatch.lancs.ac.uk

http://www.solarham.net

John

deise08

Thanks very much for that John. looks like I'm just that bit too south

lolie

Anybody up north should look out now for aurora.
Can see faint aurora from down here.

Charlie19

Last time I went searching, I saw nothing but I did only go as far as Swords.:)

_Whimsical_

There are absolutely amazing shots of last nights aurora over Donegal on Astronomy Irelands facebook

this is one by photographer Brendan Diver. He say there was no editing on his photos

Hal1

Still some chances again tonight as there is some moderate g2 storming bouncing off us. The solar wind speed is 384km/s now but I'd say that will increase again later.

John mac

kp3 predicted for tonight

tylercollins

Another solar flare is in coming for Tuesday night, also peak of lyrids meteor shower is on Wednesday night!

http://www.softservenews.com/en/aurora-borealis-breaking-news/another-aurora-storm-watch-news-300060.html

tylercollins

Aurora alert Ireland (@Aurora_ireland)

NOAA are currently forecasting 45/65% chance of solar storms in the next 48 hours. Cloud good, humidity tonight could result in fog patches

.

lolie

A big cme blasted of from earth facing sunspot 2371 early Sunday morning and looks like it's heading directly for us.
Forecast for tonight is looking decent if anything happens but bright sky's to the north won't help.

From Spaceweather.com
FULL HALO CME, STORM WARNING: A coronal mass ejection (CME) is heading directly for Earth. It left the sun during the early hours of June 21st, and is expected to sweep up one or two lesser CMEs already en route, before it reaches Earth sometime on June 22nd.
NOAA forecasters estimate a 90% chance of polar geomagnetic storms when the CME arrives. This doesn't mean that a major space weather event is in the offing. The storm could be mild. It all depends on how the magnetic field of the CME connects to the magnetic field of Earth at the time of impact. According to NOAA, there's only a 10% chance of nothing happening, so stay tuned.


Here's the culprit. Good chance of more earth directed cmes in the next few days.