Aug 2, 2016: Aurora Borealis peak tonight?

[HitTheLake]

While not precisely an "image of the day", it is an interesting event supported by an image.

Tonight is going to be a better than normal night for the Aurora / Northern Lights, according to this site that I watch. They could be visible as far south as southern Illinois, but not as likely. Given a clear night, though, all of Minnesota should get a good show as well as the northern parts of other northern states.

Given how quiet our sun is right now, it might not be spectacular, but there should definitely be something to look at if you're in the right region.

Note that this is just a Forecast, and is not a sure thing. But this site has been pretty accurate in the past.

www.gi.alaska.edu/AuroraForecast/NorthAmerica/20160802

[Undertoad]

Thanks HitTheLake... much appreciated.

It's only 6 hour drive for me...! Never saw it despite spending a little time in northern New Hampshire.

[fargon]

I'll be getting up at Midnight to watch.

[HitTheLake]

I'm pretty excited about this one. I've been looking up sources of various sorts this morning and this is a new moon tonight (meaning no light pollution from the moon) and where I'm at, we're supposed to have pretty clear skies. I'm just about an hour West of the western tip of Lake Superior, so we're almost in the zone where it should be overhead, which I've never managed to see. Most Northern Lights events I've caught completely by accident (out for a midnight stroll, or driving in the car and noticing it on the horizon). Then I completely missed the last big event about six months ago, and I vowed to watch the site I linked on a daily basis so it wouldn't happen again. The only times I saw it hit "5" on their strength scale during this time we've had overcast skies. This time I'll drive to get out from under the cloud cover if we have a change in weather.

[infinite monkey]

So...Aurora Borealis for Dummies. Ohio. See it, or not see it? Because I'll be at work but can sneak to outside garden if I have a chance of seeing anything.

[glatt]

Growing up in Maine, I've seen them a couple times. But never the spectacular shows you see pictures of. They would just look like a brightness in the sky, like there was a city over the horizon, and they would get lighter and darker, with faint streaking lines.

[HitTheLake]

If you're outside the band of green going to white (Ohio, Washington state, Pennsylvania)... You'll only see it if you have
1) a clear view of the Northern horizon (no high tree line close by)
2) minimal light pollution (lighted windows, street lights... any sort of light)
3) No clouds to your North.

I'm thinking that at work in the garden... only if that garden isn't around a lot of lights and you don't have a city to your North that is going to cast a "glow" on the Northern horizon. Not likely, I'd think. But I don't know precisely where your garden is.

[Gravdigr]

We had a little Northern Lights activity here in KY several years ago. No dancing lights, just the entire northern horizon lit up red like a killer sunset. At 2a.m..

[orthodoc]

Looks like we'll miss it here in NW PA ... sad about that. The aurora (aurorae?) in Moosonee was (were) frequent and breathtaking. Coming back from the clinic at 3 am (it was just a walk across a couple of backyards), it was regularly there, moving, pulsating, a flowing quality to it. The colors varied, lots of green but many other colors as well. Sometimes, if it was my husband's night on call, he'd wake me up to go outside and look when he was coming home from a call and there was an awesome aurora. I'd love to see it again.

[BigV]

I've seen it in Alaska, dominating the sky. Practically a hazard to navigation. Much safer and more satisfying to pull over and watch from the shoulder. Like orthodoc said, mostly green shimmering waving curtains, the movies I've seen don't seem overly dramatic, not photoshoppy. It really is breathtaking.

[Diaphone Jim]

I am at 39 degrees north in California.
Nothing last night, but have had two viewings in the last 45 years.
Thanks for the heads up. It is always worth a look.

[fargon]

It was overcast last nite.

[Snakeadelic]

Umm...wtf is up with IotD? No new posts in weeks, don't know where to look for an explanation, and when I log in there are only 9 threads in the entire category??? If I click something in the Archive list, the thread pops right up.

For a future IotD, I suggest http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap160814.html because I wanna know if anyone else thinks the little blobby bit at top left looks like it's flipping us off.

[monster]

Originally Posted by Snakeadelic

Umm...wtf is up with IotD? No new posts in weeks, don't know where to look for an explanation, and when I log in there are only 9 threads in the entire category??? If I click something in the Archive list, the thread pops right up.

For a future IotD, I suggest http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap160814.html because I wanna know if anyone else thinks the little blobby bit at top left looks like it's flipping us off.

you can post an IOTD.

you were gone, why do you expect everyone else to hang around waiting for you?

[Pamela]

I have a girlfriend driving from SD to ND tonight. She has been sending me pictures of the Lights. I have never seen them myself and they are so beautiful!