Althouse: You may be able to see the Northern Lights in Wisconsin and other northern states tonight.

July 16, 2017

You may be able to see the Northern Lights in Wisconsin and other northern states tonight.

"The best time to see the northern lights in Wisconsin should be between 10 p.m. Sunday and 1 a.m. Monday... the result of a solar flare that erupted out of a sunspot late Thursday into early Friday. The flare released a wave of charged particles that take a few days to reach Earth...."

22 comments:

Big Mike said...: Crap. Looks like Virginia will be too far south.; 7/16/17, 7:59 PM
The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...: Throw in the reincarnation of Sam McGee and I'll stay up. Otherwise, off to bed at 9.; 7/16/17, 8:12 PM
rhhardin said...: http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/aurora-30-minute-forecast

I saw it once in Ohio years ago. Looks too far north at the moment.; 7/16/17, 8:16 PM
rhhardin said...: It depends as I recall on the z component of the solar magnetic field turning south.; 7/16/17, 8:17 PM
rhhardin said...: IMF Bz is what you want a plot of.; 7/16/17, 8:22 PM
rhhardin said...: http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/ace-real-time-solar-wind

Red line in the first plot. If it's negative, it's good for aurora.; 7/16/17, 8:24 PM
Jael (Gone Windwalking) said...: "Look aloft!", cried Starbuck. "The corpusants! The corpusants!".

Ahab, "Aye, aye, men! Look up at it; mark it well; the white flame but lights the way to the White Whale!"

"O cruel! what hast thou done ... Defyingly I worship thee!"; 7/16/17, 8:36 PM
pacwest said...: Speaking of the cremation of Sam McGee, I lived in AK for 40 years. I've seen some spectacular auroras. The few I've seen in the lower 48 have been pretty weak tea.; 7/16/17, 8:38 PM
Ambrose said...: Will this be attributed to climate change?; 7/16/17, 8:39 PM
raf said...: Will this be attributed to climate change?Will this be attributed to climate change?

Isn't everything?; 7/16/17, 8:45 PM
raf said...: Twice, even; 7/16/17, 8:46 PM
Unknown said...: Good resource

http://www.spaceweather.com/; 7/16/17, 8:53 PM
StephenFearby said...: Can you also see the lights from Russia from your back yard?

For those who stare real hard at them, they illuminate lotsa impeachable deeds.; 7/16/17, 9:02 PM
Jael (Gone Windwalking) said...: "Red line in the first plot. If it's negative, it's good for aurora"

Haunting. Beautiful. Values approaching "0." Maybe that means I can make things up, since my brain is an organ of illusion anyway? Map that linear to quadrants (I forget the name of that chart), would I see the eye of Sauron? What attitude would I need for that? Beyond gas, is it unreasonable to ask this Demon Haunted World that when I die, I become plasma? What a way to go.; 7/16/17, 9:03 PM
rhhardin said...: If the solar wind magnetic field is south, it links up to the earth's magnetic field and charged particles can come in along field lines (which they refuse to cross) and hit the ionosphere.; 7/16/17, 9:20 PM
Jael (Gone Windwalking) said...: "If the solar wind magnetic field is south ... along field lines (which they refuse to cross)"

Yes, but isn’t there a way to make a quadrant mapping from on top - north, looking down at half? The name for such a chart is on the tip of my ... why can’t I find it? Maybe attitude is not the right question that far off, or that far in, because we couldn’t see the colors from there? How to peel off the top of the world, stand down here all humble-like, make a flatlander quadrant of the pretty colors, looking up?; 7/16/17, 9:31 PM
Jael (Gone Windwalking) said...: Hmmm, did Google for “flatlander chart of the northern lights.”

Wrong question. All pics referenced earth’s horizon. I want no horizon. No earth. The egocentrism of Google Earth is a disease. Just straight up view. Pics won’t do it. Pics can’t. I don’t think. Unless there’s some ultra-weird fisheye. Need a map.; 7/16/17, 9:42 PM
Josephbleau said...: "The map is not the territory."; 7/16/17, 10:18 PM
Josephbleau said...: "What is good for the Aurora, is good for men." Feminist doctrine.; 7/16/17, 10:21 PM
Ed Bo said...: My parents were married in LaCrosse WI in August 1950. That night as they drove north to a family cabin in Rhinelander they saw the best Aurora in a century. They always considered it a good omen for a marriage that lasted for 60 years.; 7/17/17, 12:48 AM
MadisonMan said...: So were they visible? I'm out of town.; 7/17/17, 7:11 AM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: MadisonMan said...

So were they visible? I'm out of town.

Not in southern NH, at least according to a guy on the radio who stayed up to see them. I had intended to look, but forgot before I went to bed.; 7/17/17, 8:12 AM