I took some pictures of the aurora that was visible in West Virginia late last week. They were taken with my Sony DSC-S85 with shutter speeds around 4 or 5 seconds.
Aurora pictures
Aurora pictures
- Thread starter steve-o
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I heard about these being visible last Thursday in Charleston. They said traffic was stopped everywhere. I was about 25 miles away from Charleston and didn't see anything. Thanks for posting.
Thanks for the complements. It was really impressive when I first saw them, so I decided I'd try to take some pictures. I'd never done any long exposure pictures before, so I had to get out my camera manual and read for awhile till I found the part that talked about changing the exposure time. By the time I got back outside and got the tripod set up, most of the really impressive colors were gone, but there was still a little bit left. There's supposed to be some more auroras tonight, so maybe I'll get some better pictures.
PHOnos
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Great photos. I think red auroras are very rare compared to blue and green
Get ready for more photo opportunities:
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Sun Shoots 10th Major Flare Tuesday, Possibly Strongest Yet
By Robert Roy Britt
Senior Science Writer
posted: 04:53 pm ET
04 November 2003
The 10th major flare in two weeks leapt from the Sun Tuesday, adding one more colossal eruption to a list that has already made history. This one could be the strongest yet.
Scientists are still evaluating the power of the latest outburst, which occurred at about 2:40 p.m. ET. It has tentatively been ranked at least an X11 on a scale in which X denotes severe and the number rates just how severe.
The major solar flare of Nov. 4. The flare erupted off the visible disk of the Sun, just behing the right limb. Loops of hot gas jumped into view, however, emitting X-rays and other radiation. CREDIT: SOHO/NASA/ESA
Paal Brekke, deputy project scientist for the SOHO spacecraft, told SPACE.com the flare could be as strong as X20 "or much higher," which would make it the most severe in decades.
"This one saturated the X-ray detectors on the NOAA's GOES satellites that monitor the Sun," Brekke said. "The jury is therefore out on the definitive classification of the flare."
Other scientists have indicated the flare may indeed be an X20 or stronger. Only one X20 event has been seen in recent years, and it was not Earth-directed and had little effect.
X-ray and light radiation from a solar eruption arrive at Earth about 8 minutes after a flare. A storm of energetic particles, if one comes, would arrive anywhere from 18 hours to three days later.
Tuesday's flare was not directed at Earth. Its X-rays were generated by loops of material that sprouted above the limb of the Sun.
The flare also kicked up a coronal mass ejection, however. This cloud of charged particles will expand outward and, in theory, could provide a glancing blow. It is not known if this CME will cause significant space weather at Earth. It is the CME in a storm that typically causes colorful auroras for high-latitude viewers. Auroras were spotted as far south as Texas during last week's storms.
The first of three other major flares that erupted Sunday and Monday passed early Tuesday with little effect. Sunday's flare was an X8.
All of four flares this week were generated by sunspots that are rotating out of view, around the right side of the Sun.
The strongest flare in the series, prior to today, was an X17 event on Oct. 28, which generated severe geomagnetic storming when it blew past Earth less than 24 hours later.
Get ready for more photo opportunities:
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Sun Shoots 10th Major Flare Tuesday, Possibly Strongest Yet
By Robert Roy Britt
Senior Science Writer
posted: 04:53 pm ET
04 November 2003
The 10th major flare in two weeks leapt from the Sun Tuesday, adding one more colossal eruption to a list that has already made history. This one could be the strongest yet.
Scientists are still evaluating the power of the latest outburst, which occurred at about 2:40 p.m. ET. It has tentatively been ranked at least an X11 on a scale in which X denotes severe and the number rates just how severe.
The major solar flare of Nov. 4. The flare erupted off the visible disk of the Sun, just behing the right limb. Loops of hot gas jumped into view, however, emitting X-rays and other radiation. CREDIT: SOHO/NASA/ESA
Paal Brekke, deputy project scientist for the SOHO spacecraft, told SPACE.com the flare could be as strong as X20 "or much higher," which would make it the most severe in decades.
"This one saturated the X-ray detectors on the NOAA's GOES satellites that monitor the Sun," Brekke said. "The jury is therefore out on the definitive classification of the flare."
Other scientists have indicated the flare may indeed be an X20 or stronger. Only one X20 event has been seen in recent years, and it was not Earth-directed and had little effect.
X-ray and light radiation from a solar eruption arrive at Earth about 8 minutes after a flare. A storm of energetic particles, if one comes, would arrive anywhere from 18 hours to three days later.
Tuesday's flare was not directed at Earth. Its X-rays were generated by loops of material that sprouted above the limb of the Sun.
The flare also kicked up a coronal mass ejection, however. This cloud of charged particles will expand outward and, in theory, could provide a glancing blow. It is not known if this CME will cause significant space weather at Earth. It is the CME in a storm that typically causes colorful auroras for high-latitude viewers. Auroras were spotted as far south as Texas during last week's storms.
The first of three other major flares that erupted Sunday and Monday passed early Tuesday with little effect. Sunday's flare was an X8.
All of four flares this week were generated by sunspots that are rotating out of view, around the right side of the Sun.
The strongest flare in the series, prior to today, was an X17 event on Oct. 28, which generated severe geomagnetic storming when it blew past Earth less than 24 hours later.
