If you have the ability and opportunity and the sky is relatively clear get outside and view the activity. Somewhere dark with no city lights. Camera's must be on a slow shutter speed and a tripod or perfectly still and angled on something. Improvise

Here you can find some specific cameras and the settings used.

http://spaceweather.com/aurora/gallery_ ... _page5.htm

Happy Hunting,

TUT



AURORA ALERT! A coronal mass ejection (CME) is racing toward Earth and it could spark a severe geomagnetic storm when it arrives--perhaps tonight (Sept. 14th and 15th). People everywhere should be alert for auroras.

The CME, pictured above, was hurled into space on Sept. 13th by an X1-class explosion at sunspot 798. This remarkable 'spot has produced nine X-flares since Sept. 7th including a record-setting X17-monster. All by itself, sunspot 798 has made Sept. 2005 the most active month on the sun since March 1991.

During the Sept 13th explosion, Thomas Ashcraft of New Mexico heard a strong radio burst on his 22 MHz receiver: listen. The slowly undulating signal is a Type II solar radio burst, generated by a shock wave at the leading edge of the CME. [more]

If this incoming CME does hit Earth's magnetic field as hard as forecasters expect, auroras could appear in places where they are seldom seen: California, Arizona, Texas and elsewhere. Stay tuned for updates.

http://spaceweather.com/


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Death Shall Come on Swift Wings To Him Who Disturbs the Peace of the King
King Tutankhamen's Tomb

This is the time of year that Cook Inlet gives of what little heat it has as do the lakes and night fog can become thick. And low pressure systems continually come up and off the Pacific and straight up the Inlet. Once the snow flies and we have clear crisp nights I will have the opportunity.

Here is another helpfull page

TUT

Tips on Viewing the Aurora

Being able to see the Aurora depends mainly on two factors, geomagnetic activity (the degree of disturbance of the earth's magnetic field at the time) and your geographic location. Further considerations are the weather at your location, and light pollution from city lights, full moon and so forth.
Geomagnetic Activity -- The Kp Index and the NOAA POES Auroral Activity Level

In order to know whether you have a chance of seeing an aurora, you need to know the level of geomagnetic activity at the time you are viewing. There is a simple index called Kp, a number from 0 to 9, which is used to refer to geomagnetic activity for a 3-hour period. Check the Space Environment Center's bar plot of Estimated Planetary Kp to see what has been happening during the past couple of days. This plot updates every 3 hours with the latest Kp value. The Space Environment Center's Solar-Geophysical Forecast for the next 24 hours (see SEC's Today's Space Weather page) might also be of help. If the GEOPHYSICAL ACTIVITY FORECAST is for "storm" levels SEC expects Kp indices of 5 or greater. Another indication of geomagnetic activity is the NOAA POES Auroral Activity Level, which is a number from 1 to 10. Further down on this page is a table that shows how Kp and the Auroral Activity Level compare with each other. Take a look at SEC's POES Auroral Activity page to see the latest Activity Level. Moon phases can also be found on the web.

Location, location, location! etc....................


http://sec.noaa.gov/Aurora/


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Death Shall Come on Swift Wings To Him Who Disturbs the Peace of the King
King Tutankhamen's Tomb