*****Possible AURORA TONIGHT Jan. 16-17**********

[bvar22]

Hey Everybody....LOOK UP!

Two coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are heading toward Earth and they could spark strong geomagnetic storms when they arrive on January 16th-17th. Sky watchers should be alert for auroras. The CMEs were blasted into space by M8- and X2-class explosions above giant sunspot 720 on Jan. 15th.

Space Weather News for January 16, 2005
http://spaceweather.com

You can suscribe to Spaceweather, and they will send you alerts by E-Mail (like the one above).



Phase of the Moon on 16 January:
waxing crescent with 44% of the Moon's visible disk illuminated.



Sunday
16 January 2005 Central Standard Time

SUN
Begin civil twilight 7:14 a.m.
Sunrise 7:47 a.m.
Sun transit 12:23 p.m.
Sunset 4:59 p.m.
End civil twilight 5:32 p.m.

MOON
Moonset 11:38 p.m. on preceding day
Moonrise 11:15 a.m.
Moon transit 5:55 p.m.
Moonset 12:49 a.m. on following day


Forecast for tonight is crystal clear skies, with 1/2 Moon setting after midnight for optimal skywatching. Low temp of -16 forecast for Minneapolis.

For the last Aurora, we drove 25 miles north on I-35 and found several spots that offered great views with less light pollution, but the best Auroras occurred after we returned to St. Paul. We viewed them from the bluffs at the top of the High Bridge, a spot I recommend.




Other cool Aurora sites:

http://www.sec.noaa.gov/pmap/AnimateN.html
(the little red arrow indicates NOON)




For current Aurora reports:
http://www.spacew.com/www/auroras.php



For some *GREAT* pictures, links, and spotting advice:
Must Visit this Link






Happy Sky Watching!

[madrchsod]

1. prob won`t be seen in northern il

but i`m going to look tonight anyway. the weather is clear and to the north where i live has very little light pollution.

[Wilber_Stool]

3. Look up

This is a big one. They could be seen as far south as the Carolinas.

[Nothing Without Hope]

2. Thanks so much for this wonderful post!

You really put a lot of work into it with the pictures and the links and the writing, and I appreciate every bit of it. I'll save the links, too. I'm planning a painting which includes a scene with an aurora, so the images will be very useful as reference images to work through for accuracy as I build my composition.

I've always loved reading about astronomy, and I will also subscribe to the site you recommend. Here in eastern Mass there is a lot of light pollution and at the moment cloudy skies, but I'll hope for my first ever view of a real, live aurora.

I hope these solar events don't disrupt things on earth in any dangerous way.

[Wilber_Stool]

4. It sure could

It could knock out power grids in Canada and fry a couple of communication satellites. This could be neat.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

5. Just a question, Bob

What do the terms "sun transit" and "moon transit" refer to?

[bvar22]

6. I'm not really sure.

I was curious about that when I copied the statistics from the Official Site.


I am familiar with the astronomical term TRANSIT. I have seen it used in other applications, such as:
"Mercury will transit the Sun at 11:16AM today." In this application, Transit means The planet, Mercury, will pass directly between the Sun and the Earth at 11.16AM.

My best guess:

This application of term transit would be:

1)The time that the Earth passes between the Sun and the Moon (Moon Transit).

2) the time that the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth. (Earth Transit).

I am going by the posted times, and guesswork.

This would differ from eclipse in that the orbits are not directly aligned in the same plane???


I took my best shot.
Anyone else have $0.02?

[bvar22]

8. After re-examining the times, I believe the above post....

...is in error.

Should read:

1)The time that the Earth passes between the Sun and the Moon = Earth Transit.

2) the time that the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth = Moon Transit.

[bvar22]

7. Morning Report:

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!:scared:

Beautiful moonset and stars, no visible evidence of Aurora over St Paul.
D/Ced watch at 2:AM.

[bvar22]

9. Minnesota sightings last night :

2005-01-17 11:29:00 UTC: N47.25 W96.75 - Duluth, MN

A good show with rays and great pulsations. Lots of red visible by my camera.



2005-01-18 01:00:00 UTC: N45.75 W94.5 - McGregor, MN

A faint but solid green arc.

The latitude of Minneapolis is 45 degrees, so McGregor is close.

I'll be watching again tonight, though the EM conditions are not quite as good.

[hermetic]

10. More info and great pics on this thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=115x16404