There was a huge explosion on the sun today which means that during the next two or three nights we might get to see spectacular auroras or northern lights here in the northern hemisphere, maybe as far south as France (47-48 degrees south). If the magnetic directions are wrong we’ll see nothing though. In Bergen it seems we statistically have an aurora three or four times a month, but you can only see them if the sky is clear and you look out the window. I obviously don’t look out the window very often at night because I’ve only seen northern lights once. If I could work out what this real time map of auroral activity meant I might be able to figure out when to look out of my window.
My Aurora is seven years old, likes to dress up as a princess or a lion or a bat, thinks Bj¯rk’s song called Aurora is “too sad”, and is in bed right now, reading for another few minutes before I turn the lights out. If I do see an aurora in the sky I’m going to wake her up and show her her namesake, school night or not.
kirsty
many thanks for the info. i’m bouncing up and down like a seven year old myself hoping that i get to see the aurora down here in yorkshire now!
Anonymous
You se the globe from the top and Norway is to the right inside the red band. I guess red is good (lots of power flux)
scott
Yeah she’s probably right. It’s sort of a haunting and mystical and Bjork-tortured song. There just aren’t that many songs titled “Aurora” — I think she might like salt peanuts/chocolate covered nut by liquid soul because it’s got this kind of bouncy sound that the kid in all of us likes but it emphasizes that the singer’s got a few salt peanuts left and he’s not going to share them and he’s relishing the fact that he’s got em — which the kid in all of us can relate to but which is probably a bad lesson for kids — but it’s a fun song anyway.
Jon
This page contains several movies of the sun during this event. Here is my favourite (2 MB).
Lars
You should see what it looks like at 70 degrees north (did you know, by the way, that in Sami mythology, the aurora is considered evil and dangerous? Be careful not to look at it for too long, and never, never, ever wave at the aurora. Consider yourself warned…)
Norman
I wouldn’t swap Australian weather for the aurora; but is it greedy to wish I could have both? As for keeping up your daughter “too late”, there are experiences worth far more than the consequences of being a tad drowsy during one day’s schooling — but you know that already, don’t you.