AKM e.V. Forum

Hi Lutz and others!

This comparing of solar cycles is something that interests me too.

I like the study of De Jager and Duhau at
http://www.cdejager.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/2010-Variable-solar-dynamo3.pdf
in which they conclude that cycle 24 is similar to cycle 12

Their (new) prediction ...

Hi !

From the long minimum that we had since cycle 23 I wouldn't be surprised if we're having solar maximum right now indeed.
Also the predictions of an upcoming Grand Solar Minimum include a low and short maximum of cycle 24.

I wonder: has anyone any data on the latitude of the current sunspots ...

Hi Yann and Ulrich !

No polder to-night, it'll be work till late, but I hope to catch some sunlit blue Nitrogen aurora around 03 hrs local time later to-night ...

And yes Ulrich, no film or video camera can capture the true beauty of pulsating aurora; very slow pulsations and movements combined ...

Hi Ulrich!

Thanks for the compliment, I'm glad you like the video.

And yes, there will be more coming soon.

Vimeo only allows one HD upload per week for basic accounts though, so I will slowly add more.

Making music was something I started a few years ago because it is very difficult to get ...

Hi All !

Since a geomagnetic storm might happen this weekend, I have put a HD 720p short film on Vimeo of the night of 6 / 7 april 2000, which also was the first time I saw real northern lights.

You can find it at http://www.vimeo.com/27315234


enjoy !

JanL



Some background info on the footage ...

Hi All !

If we watch the statistics of the history big northern lights displays, the months of June and December have a near zero occurrence of them.
So the chance that we see a large display to-night or to-morrow night is small.

The reason for this is probably that the very north or south of our ...

Hi all !

It's 22:25 and on the newly installed Porjus Cam3 that is aimed to the south, you can see that main activity is now over the middle of Scandinavia.

If the moon would be under the horizon now, and the sky very very clear I think it could be possible now to record faint photographic aurora ...

Hi all

There's pretty good activity now on the three aurora cams at www.porjus.eu

(time = 21:00 Germany/Netherlands winter time)

I expect a few major auroral oval breakups (substorms) to start the coming two hours since Bz has been below zero for hours now and local geomagnetic midnight is ...

Hm, I've been reading his report of the observing circumstances of his location and it sounds almost exactly like I've experienced on the Terschelling island in the north of the Netherlands.
When the wind comes in from the sea or ocean in winter or early spring you get indeed very clear skies so if ...

Yes Wolfgang, this looks good.

Pretty much like the views I had from the northern Dutch "Frisian" islands.

The north of Ireland is quite a bit closer to the geomagnetic pole, so they should indeed get more sights of aurora then we do here in NW-Europe (Germany, Netherlands).
The same goes for ...

O.K., this is nice, it's 1:34 local time now and at the cams at www.porjus.eu you see half circles of aurora forming far away to the west.

In say 20-35 minutes they will be overhead in Porjus and a huge show will be visible for about 20 minutes.

Well, at least that is the usual pattern near this ...

Bz = -8 nT at 23:35 local time, now let's hope it stays that way

By the way, the speed of the solar wind has gone up to 650 in the past few hours, so if Bz goes deep below zero we could get a real nice aurora show ...

Hi All!

I just received a message from Yann Hollander in Porjus, Lapland that the Oval is moving south now, it is at 30 degrees above the southern horizon as seen from Porjus.

This should mean that if and when Bz turns south, there will be a very good chance of an auroral substorm over southern ...

Hm, I've spend four winters in Lapland and when it looks like that on the Porjus camera's, then it is very very bright.
One time near four in the morning I thought the house of the neighbours was on fire, while it was just aurora near the horizon at a distance of 400 - 600 km away.

The overexposed ...

Yes Lutz, I agree with you, there is a very good chance on photographing and perhaps even seeing northern lights from the north of Germany to-nite !
JanL

Hi All!

At the two camera's at www.porjus.eu in Swedish Lapland there is nice activity now, and I expect it to become a very good show later to-nite.

As to the possibility to see the northern lights from Germany or The Netherlands, it is my experience that Bz should be negative for at least two ...

Yes, Severin, as I remember that would be the case.

You have faster and slower particles leaving the sun during a CME, and the faster particles arrive a bit earlier and carry more energy.

Then there is also the case that protons and electrons leave the sun at the same time but protons carry more ...

Hi all !

Ehm, if I remember it right, there was the same question in the STD forum either fall 2000 or spring 2001.

And as far as I remember Cary Oler answered the question by saying that indeed the particle density goes down dramatically just before the shockwave hits.
Perhaps the old discussion ...

Hi all !

Even if it is clouded, you can still see northern lights in Germany to-morrow (on TV).
In two documentaries there is aurora footage that I shot in Swedish Lapland.
The broadcasts are on :

Wednesday 16 Feb 19:30 Arte "Wildes Skandinavien - Finnland" (repeated Wednesday 23 Feb 14:00 ...