Aurora Borealis Viewing?

[Mark]

On the heels of a massive solar storm that caused large Auroras last night (6/22/2015), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center has issued a 72 hour magnetic storm watch indicating a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) or a high speed solar wind stream emanating from the Sun may be heading towards Earth. These fast moving charged particles can cause a Northern Lights display. (Source: http://www.softservenews.com/en/aurora-borealis-breaking-news/large-aurora-storm-watch-news-300067.html)

Anyone ever tried to see the aurora from a summit? I wonder if a night hike of Monadnock is on order. Is it dark enough around Monadnock for good viewing? Tonight should be clear and the moon sets just after midnight.

 

[jniehof]

Check in at http://www.aurorasaurus.org/ (whether you see or not).

I did cringe at that report. Either a CME or a HSS? There's...a bit of a difference.

 

[DougPaul]

Anyone ever tried to see the aurora from a summit? I wonder if a night hike of Monadnock is on order. Is it dark enough around Monadnock for good viewing? Tonight should be clear and the moon sets just after midnight.

Aurora pictures from the Presidentials have been posted on and linked from this website in the past. Search on "aurora".

Yesterday (Jun 23) from Franconia, NH and Mt Washington: http://boston.cbslocal.com/photo-galleries/2015/06/23/northern-lights-set-new-england-skies-aglow/

Yesterday (Jun 23) from Cape Cod: http://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=23&month=06&year=2015

Since Auroras were seen (Jun 23/24) as far south as Georgia and Virginia there is a good chance that they were visible from Monadnock, clouds permitting.

I have seen an aurora from the flats below White Horse (climbing area just W of N Conway). Presumably it would also have been visible from nearby summits.

FWIW, there was a 6m (50 MHZ) (ham band) opening to the SE US yesterday (Jun 23) afternoon due to changes in the ionosphere caused by the CME.

Doug