Well, I'm damned every which way! My view to the North is pretty much through the arch of Wembley Stadium, which is illuminated by overly bright gaudy coloured lights on many occasions, if not not by the powerful lights used to make the pitch grass grow which causes an enormous 'glow'! ... that just adds to the general light pollution of London which pretty much kills any chance of seeing anything in the sky. Add to that the general fug created by London Heathrow (the sky was spectacularly clear during Covid when Heathrow was all but shut down!) makes the sky murky!
I'm an Owl, letting the dog in the garden for a wee before bed at typically 1am, but I saw sweet FA! But then I hardly ever see ANYTHING in the sky despite looking hard! .... when I've been away in dark sky areas, the amount of stars and meteors etc. in the sky has been spectacular, but London is a lost cause on anything in the night sky! .... lucky to see the Moon with any clarity!
The Aurora Borealis is a bit of an obsession of mine, but failed many a time to see it, even in the Lake District last Nov, the view was obscured by hills and clouds! .... feel a little damned, every attempt seems thwarted!
I was lucky enough to see it from Meols prom on Wirral between 11pm and midnight! With the naked eye it wasn't anywhere near as dramatic as the pictures online, but it was definitely there. I thought it was a misty cloud at first, then gradually it developed vertical elements and spread into sweeping 'brushstrokes' up the sky that became tinged with red - the changes were all very subtle, no glorious rippling curtains like in the Arctic - but I saw it! I really must learn how to deal with the bells and whistles my camera possesses... I'm such a lazy 'point and shoot'merchant! Then if it happens again I might be able to capture it.
------------- Always edited for sloppy typing - when I spot it!
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We do have fairly dark skies here and unobstructed views, but not many hours of darkness. I woke at around 3am and thought I'd take a look. It was bright enough by then to stroll up the garden. There was a definite glow in the northern sky, but nothing really worthy of note, so it was back to bed.
I don't know if it's related, but we've had quite spectacular and colourful sunsets for the past two days.
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We got beautiful pictures here in Essex. What you could see with the naked eye was totally different to taking a photo. The colours were magnificent. We took pictures about 11pm.
Lots of incredible pictures posted on social media from around this way on Friday night so I tried to look out last night but couldn't see anything. Probably too much light pollution, as looking to the north of us is towards a town. To the south of us is a well lit major dual-carriageway about 200 yards away.
Had a fabulous show at the Camping and Caravan Club Site at Barnard Castle. The photographs that I took give much more detail than I could see with the naked eye. We alerted our daughter who was near Nottingham on holiday and she got fantastic pictures. One of her neighbours took a picture of the sky over her house in Swaffam and they could be clearly seen.
Have wanted to see them for years but have now finally seen them and it was well worth the wait.
For those who are interested there is a site called AuroraWatch UK, hosted by the University of Lancaster, which gives alerts of when it might be possible to see the Aurora. Unfortunately the forecast for this evening is 'no significant activity'
At this time of year you have to be looking for them after about 10.30.
I missed them all, even though they were visible in my town as reported by the locals.
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Quote: Originally posted by GWTE on 12/5/2024
For those who are interested there is a site called AuroraWatch UK, hosted by the University of Lancaster, which gives alerts of when it might be possible to see the Aurora. Unfortunately the forecast for this evening is 'no significant activity'
At this time of year you have to be looking for them after about 10.30.
I have their app loaded. It does give red, amber or yellow alerts at the actual time of the possible sighting: as my phone stays downstairs overnight, I didn’t get the several alerts that came while I was asleep.
My sister in NZ has been getting equivalent alerts for the Southern Lights (Aurora Australis, I think?)
Hurtigruten (Norwegian Coastal Voyage) is starting a new 7 day trip with guaranteed sightings: it will start at Tromsø and head north & east, route will vary to suit weather etc. Friends also sailed with Hurtigruten from Tilbury last year & saw the Lights on many occasions: they turn off the ship’s engines so that people can take photos without them being blurred by the vibration, and run workshops on how best to photograph them.
Quote: Originally posted by GWTE on 12/5/2024
For those who are interested there is a site called AuroraWatch UK, hosted by the University of Lancaster, which gives alerts of when it might be possible to see the Aurora. Unfortunately the forecast for this evening is 'no significant activity'
At this time of year you have to be looking for them after about 10.30.
I have their app loaded. It does give red, amber or yellow alerts at the actual time of the possible sighting: as my phone stays downstairs overnight, I didn’t get the several alerts that came while I was asleep.
My sister in NZ has been getting equivalent alerts for the Southern Lights (Aurora Australis, I think?)
Hurtigruten (Norwegian Coastal Voyage) is starting a new 7 day trip with guaranteed sightings: it will start at Tromsø and head north & east, route will vary to suit weather etc. Friends also sailed with Hurtigruten from Tilbury last year & saw the Lights on many occasions: they turn off the ship’s engines so that people can take photos without them being blurred by the vibration, and run workshops on how best to photograph them.
I was alerted by the weather forecasters earlier in the day -think it was the BBC forecasters who were predicting possible sightings from all over the uk-a forecast that they actually got right!
There have been a couple of alerts from the Lancaster University site for the last couple of nights but I was tucked up in bed by the time they came through. Will be on the look out tonight just in case but I'm back home now and there is a lot of light pollution here.
There is a lot of very intense solar activity at the moment making an impressive aurora , with more activity predicted for the next couple of years, I believe its causing a manetic pole shift on the Earth together with increased axis tilt,and a lot of other things.
Radio says more expected tonight.
The AuroraWatchUK app shows the past 24 hours actual activity, but it doesn’t look ahead. The map shows where it is at the moment (Canada & USSR).
Interesting article about the NZ equivalent lights, explaining clearly: https://www.geonet.org.nz/mbl/news/7CXlGbEfwGAiCITzbEkFYc
Well, OH is staying up to watch the boxing so will ask him to look out of our front window a few times...just in case. But if it's anything like now, it will be cloudy. Maybe better luck from a week tomorrow when we will be at a north facing CL.
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Topic: Aurora Borealis
via mobile 11/5/2024 at 7:05pm
