||| FROM NOAA |||
Space weather forecasters at NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) have issued a Severe (G4) Geomagnetic Storm Watch for Thursday, October 10 into Friday, October 11. Experts at SWPC are monitoring the sun following a strong X -class solar flare and resulting coronal mass ejection (CME) that began in the evening on October 8.
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We have been getting amazing Northern Lights shows the past weeks from these events!
Find a good spot with a northern view, and a 3-10 second exposure in “night mode” on your iPhone/… will produce fun results when it is active. I’ve had great luck just walking out onto my deck and taking a few test shots with the phone throughout the evening to see if anything is going on.
You may not be able to see the show with your naked eyes, or you may see what looks like only moving clouds, but I have found that if you give your eyes an honest 30-45 minutes to fully dark-adapt, you’ll see a lot just with your eyes. (This means, no light pollution, no looking at your cell phone or camera screen, shielding your eyes from any nearby ambient light, asking your neighbors to turn off their exterior lighting, …)
Sometimes the active period will last only for a few minutes, dampen out, and then renew a bit later in the evening. Sometimes though it goes on for an extended period of time. So don’t be dismayed if you miss it the first times you look, just be persistent, and you will eventually have success.
The Sun has an 11-year cycle of activity, and we’re approaching the peak of it, which drives these.
Take the time to enjoy it while you can!