Astroblog: Aurora visible NOW! (10:16 PM ACST)

Friday, September 08, 2017

Aurora visible NOW! (10:16 PM ACST)

Aurora and beams visible to the unaided eye have been reported in Tasmania (Tunbridge, Barrington, Sandpiper beach and more), despite cloud and strong Moonlight.

After the massive solar storm that entranced northern hemisphere viewers, the storm faded. After not much of anything, the magnetic filed has turned south again, and unaided eye aurora are being reported, the G3 storms predicted for later.

Current parameters Velocity: 751 km/sec Bz: -15.0 nT Density = 3.0 p/cc Hobart Kindex is now 6. This may change as the night wears on. It is possible aurora may fade then come back as conditions evolve.

Dark sky sites have the best chance of seeing anything, and always allow around 5 minutes for your eyes to become dark adapted.

As always look to the south for shifting red/green glows, beams have been reported consistently over the last few aurora, as well as bright proton arcs and "picket fences". A double arc, curtains and picket fences were seen in last weeks aurora despite the moonlight.

Here is the near-real time satellite view of the clouds http://satview.bom.gov.au/
Cloud cover predictions can be found at SkippySky.

A new aurora camera is being installed at Campania, Tasmania. A live feed of the images from this camera is sill not available.

SUBJ: SWS AURORA WATCH
ISSUED AT 1202 UT ON 08 Sep 2017 by Space Weather Services
FROM THE AUSTRALIAN SPACE FORECAST CENTRE

The effects of the recent CME have been waning however the CME
magnetic field turned moderately southward around 11:12UT (9:12 pm
AEST) which is likely to result in improved conditions for aurora
viewing over the coming hours in southern Australian region,
particularly Tasmania.

Labels: aurora