(Off Topic) Northern Lights

[miniwyo]

Did anyone happen to catch the northern lights last nite? It was my first time to ever see them. They were a light green, kind of faint and pulsing. I was suprised too see them this far south. And there are no real words to describe them besides...


Beautiful

[Anonymous]

No but that I wish I had. I have never seen them at all,Id sure like to have seen them,Darn. It is rare to see them this far south.....Very rare.

[zardoz]

Check out this site for more info:

http://spaceweather.com/

[Bergie]

I saw them too. It was quite a site to behold, and was my first time as well. I was on my way back to Milwaukee and the closer I got to the city and burbs the more the light pollution killed the effect.

I wish I could have been trackside somewhere. [:D]

Erik

[jeaton]

Did anybody alert Mel Patrick? He would be the guy to get photos of the lights as a backdrop of a time exposure of a passing train or some other cool night time feature of railroads.

Then he could tell us how it was done.

Jay

PS-Maybe Mike Y. could come on and explain how to use the Digital Rebel to take pictures of the lights?

[jeaton]

Jim

Nice site. Just stuck it in my favorites.

Jay

[Big_Boy_4005]

Actually they have been visible a number of nights in the last couple of weeks. It is difficult to get a really good display at this laditude. The best I ever saw was in Fairbanks Alaska, multicolored and moving wildly. It was late August, and the last night of the trip. I went out from the motel room out to the car, and just happened to look up. I knew at once what I was seeing. I ran back inside and told my dad that he had to see this. It was dazzeling!!!

[wcfan4ever]

Yeppers, I got to see them for the first time ever as well. It just so happened that I was in the country at the time coming from a friends house and something caught my eye. I pulled over and watched it in amazment. There was a red flare high up in the sky for a very short while. They looked great! Once i got closer to town, I lost sight of then cause of the light polution.

[jjlamkin]

Yep, saw the Northern Lights! We had the same thing happen last year about this time of year. I guess you never know what to expect and I live in Illinois!! I always thought I would have to go to Alaska to see this anomaly.

[jjlamkin]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Bergie

I saw them too. It was quite a site to behold, and was my first time as well. I was on my way back to Milwaukee and the closer I got to the city and burbs the more the light pollution killed the effect.

I wish I could have been trackside somewhere. [:D]

Erik

Bergie,
how is everything. I'm still trying to get the motor car going. I have been doing some paint touchup, but the old 2-stroke just fires a few times and quits. I have a few tricks I can try, info I got from a local that has a motor similar to mine. Hopefully if things go right the Chillicothe Corn Fest will have motor car runs for both a Saturday and Sunday, probably near the end of next July!!
Regards,
Jim

[locomutt]

QUOTE: Originally posted by BNSF railfan.

No but that I wish I had. I have never seen them at all,Id sure like to have seen them,Darn. It is rare to see them this far south.....Very rare.

Didn't see the ones last night,but a whole "bunch" of years ago,I had the
privilege of seeing them in a small Ky. town that we were living in.
Mind you;this is in the '50s,small town,people thought it was the end
of the world.

And from what I do understand about them,it is semi-rare to be able
to see them this far south.

[zardoz]

Science lesson for today:

The composition and density of the atmosphere and the altitude of the aurora determine the possible light emissions.

When an excited atom or molecule returns to the ground state, it sends out a photon with a specific energy. This energy depends on the type of atom and on the level of excitement, and we perceive the energy of a photon as color. The upper atmosphere consists of air just like the air we breathe. At very high altitudes there is atomic oxygen in addition to normal air, which is made up of molecular nitrogen and molecular oxygen. The energetic electrons in aurora are strong enough to occasionally split the molecules of the air into nitrogen and oxygen atoms. The photons that come out of aurora have therefore the signature colors of nitrogen and oxygen molecules and atoms. Oxygen atoms, for example, strongly emit photons in two typical colors: green and red. The red is a brownish red that is at the limit of what the human eye can see, and although the red auroral emission is often very bright, we can barely see it.

Photographic film has a different sensitivity to colors than the eye, therefore you often see more red aurora on photos than with the unaided eye. Since there is more atomic oxygen at high altitudes, the red aurora tends to be on top of the regular green aurora. The colors that we see are a mixture of all the auroral emissions. Just like the white sunlight is a mixture of the colors of the rainbow, the aurora is a mixture of colors. The overall impression is a greenish-whitish glow. Very intense aurora gets a purple edge at the bottom. The purple is a mixture of blue and red emissions from nitrogen molecules.

The green emission from oxygen atoms has a peculiar thing about it: usually an excited atom or molecule returns to the ground state right away, and the emission of a photon is a matter of microseconds or less. The oxygen atom, however, takes its time. Only after about a 3/4 second does the excited atom return to the ground state to emit the green photon. For the red photon it takes almost 2 minutes! If the atom happens to collide with another air particle during this time, it might just turn its excitation energy over to the collision partner, and thus never radiate the photon. Collisions are more likely when the atmospheric gas is dense, so they happen more often the lower down we go. This is why the red color of oxygen only appears at the very top of an aurora, where collisions between air molecules and atoms are rare. Below about 100 km (60 miles) altitude even the green color doesn't get a chance. This happens when we see a purple lower border: the green emission gets quenched by collisions, and all that is left is the blue/red mixture of the molecular nitrogen emission

[Anonymous]

I've never seen them myself, but my grandmother told me that as a child she saw them; yes here in North Carolina, and close to the northern-most part of South Carolina at that . I don't doubt her word, she said they were green with red also and that it just "danced across the sky." When ever the sun spots are at the peak of their 10-11 year cycle, the Aurora Borealis can be seen as far south as southern Arizona from what I've read. As far as I'm aware, it last peaked in about 2000-2001.

[Anonymous]

From what I understand the northern lights are sapossed to happen again tonight,so look up and watch the show....................

[Anonymous]

Yep, I saw them too-beutiful sight!

[passengerfan]

Being a former truckdriver and running the Alcan to Alaska for six years I witnessed the phenomenon many times and always stopped the truck and gazed in wonderment at natures most beautiful display in the northern skies. I have witnessed the light display as far south as Utah and as far north as Fairbanks.Have seen it as far west as Vancouver Island and as far east as Newfoundland. No matter how many times I witness the lights I think how small human beings are compared to what mother nature is capable of. I urge anyone who might have to stay up late to watch the display not to miss the chance for it will leave a lasting impression of natures finest display.

[espeefoamer]

Never saw them[:(]. I was hoping to see them when I was in Alaska a few years ago.I was in fairbanks,and kept checking but no luck. My mother saw them once in Indiana,though.

[Big_Boy_4005]

Zardos has given a good scientific explanation from a charged particle perspective, but this phenomenon also involves the Earth's magnetic field. That field is strongest near the poles. Although some of the auroaral effect is visible here in the lower 48, that activity is minor in comparison to what can be seen near the Arctic circle.

In other words if you haven't seen it from above 60 degrees laditude, you haven't REALLY seen it. You have caught faint glimpses.

http://www.exploratorium.edu/learning_studio/auroras/happen.html

[tree68]

Sitting at about 44 degrees, I see some pretty good displays. There have been cases of people reporting fires due to the glow of the lights.

[zardoz]

There have been a surprisingly large number of people that live in the latitudes that get the auroras fairly frequently (Northern AND Southern Lights), that report actually hearing the auroral displays. Most scientists dismiss these reports, as there is no known mechanism that would cause the display to create any sound waves; however, as these stories of auroral sounds have existed amongst the area's natives for many generations, some scientists are at least willing to consider the possibility of some as of yet undiscovered process.

When viewed from above (like from the space shuttle) the magnetic north and south poles, the aurora displays will usually look like a circle, with the center right above the poles.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: zardoz
Posted: Today, 21:11:37
There have been a surprisingly large number of people that live in the latitudes that get the auroras fairly frequently (Northern AND Southern Lights), that report actually hearing the auroral displays. Most scientists dismiss these reports, as there is no known mechanism that would cause the display to create any sound waves; however, as these stories of auroral sounds have existed amongst the area's natives for many generations, some scientists are at least willing to consider the possibility of some as of yet undiscovered process.

Isn't that referred to as the "lights hissing or cracking" because of the way they sound? I also read that according to legend with the Inuits that if you whistle under the lights, you must throw frozen dog *** into the air or the lights will come down and slice your head off. Couldn't make that up...

[railman]

The Northern Lights were spectacular in the western suburbs ( i.e. former rural route) ! Didn't get any train/ lights combos, though.

[zardoz]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Blue Ridge Front

QUOTE: zardoz
Posted: Today, 21:11:37
There have been a surprisingly large number of people that live in the latitudes that get the auroras fairly frequently (Northern AND Southern Lights), that report actually hearing the auroral displays. Most scientists dismiss these reports, as there is no known mechanism that would cause the display to create any sound waves; however, as these stories of auroral sounds have existed amongst the area's natives for many generations, some scientists are at least willing to consider the possibility of some as of yet undiscovered process.

Isn't that referred to as the "lights hissing or cracking" because of the way they sound? I also read that according to legend with the Inuits that if you whistle under the lights, you must throw frozen dog *** into the air or the lights will come down and slice your head off. Couldn't make that up...

Yes, that is the type of sound usually heard. I would venture to guess that the sounds (if they do exist) would only be audible in the vast quiet of the polar regions.

I, myself, am inclined to believe the native stories. When I used to live way out in the county, if there was zero wind and a heavy snow falling, I would swear I could hear the snow falling!

I would love to venture north someday to see (and hear) the aurora in all it's glory.

[Anonymous]

I didn't have chance to see a train and a northern lights in the same time, but tonight, despite all the lights in town the northern lights were quite amazing.

[jeaton]

Very visable last night here in our Southern Wisconsin town, even with the typical light pollution. I could have driven a few miles to get a better view, but having been raised in the northern part of the state, I have often seen quite spectacular displays.

Jay