Is anybody watching the Northern Lights tonight? They are so awesome! Right over my house is what appears to be a circle of darkness which the rays(red and white)are radiating outwards. I just came back from Wal-mart(5 miles away)and couldn't see a thing. I'm so lucky to be living in the country to see such a sight. Go out and have a look :)

-- Jean (jat@ncis.net), November 05, 2001

Answers

Jean, you bet! This is the first time either Bren or I have ever seen them. We're in the mountains of NC and it's just beautiful!!We've got red to the north and a light greenish white to the west with red radiating directly overhead from that. We've just come in for some hot chocolate and then we'll bundle up to watch some more!!

-- gilly (wayoutfarm@skybest.com), November 05, 2001.

This is the first time my 11 yr. old grandson saw them, too. He was really impressed. We live in Northern WI right by Lake Superior, so the reflection in the water is neat.

-- Jean (jat@ncis.net), November 05, 2001.

Yes, I saw them too. I've never seen such an intense red! I was over at a neighbors looking at their poultry when their oldest daughter saw them. Spectacular!

-- Trisha-MN (tank@linkup.net), November 06, 2001.

Yes I seen them last night. Seen them at 4AM in the morning about a week ago .I was asleep and something woke me up and I looked out the window they where much brighter than last night very dark beams of red light. The last time I seen them befor that was in 1991. Indiana Country Friend Jack Bunyard

-- Jack Bunyard (bunyard@cnz.com), November 06, 2001.

Bright here about 9. One lady near here thought we just got nuked in the north somewhere!

-- Don (dairyagri@yahoo.com), November 06, 2001.

I've seen them many times but never red. What is the reason for this?

-- Jean (jat@ncis.net), November 06, 2001.

Now you're all making me homesick! growing up in Upper Michigan on the shore of Lake Superior we would see them all the time. We're in Central Wisc. now and have never seen them here yet, but I will be looking tonight.

-- Rose Marie Wild (wintersongfarm@yahoo.com), November 06, 2001.

SOLAR BLAST: Twisted magnetic fields near sunspot 9684 erupted Sunday, Nov. 4th, at 1620 UT. The explosion sparked an X1-class solar flare and hurled a bright coronal mass ejection toward Earth. The expanding cloud could trigger geomagnetic activity and Northern Lights when it buffets our planet's magnetic field on Nov. 6th or 7th.

http://spaceweather.com/

-- Dave (something@somewhere.com), November 06, 2001.

Yes, they were the brightest I've ever seen here. I thought displays like that were limited to Alaska!

-- Rebekah (daniel1@itss.net), November 06, 2001.

Jean, according to the book "Celestial Delights" red is usually the color seen it the continental US. It's intensity is also due to the exceptionally large solar flare which just occured. Check out the site Dave mentions above!

-- Bren (wayoutfarm@skybest.com), November 06, 2001.

Jean, thanks very very much for the heads up last night. I would never have gone out and looked north at the time I read your post, otherwise. I went 56 years without ever seeing them; now I've seen them three times in the last four or five months. Always red, but this time there were white rays that looked kind of like slowly moving spot lights, plus once there was a bright flash, coming from below the horizon. Way cool!

I never would have imagined I'd have ever seen this as far south as I am (Southern Oregon).

JOJ

-- joj (jump@off.c), November 06, 2001.

They were all over north Alabama last night but I didn't get to see them! But I did hear the hundreds of people calling into 911 thinking it was something to do with a terrorist attack!!!! gee!!! (I was listening to our police and fire scanner that I have to listen to all the time in my job as a reporter) I hate it that I didn't get to see them!!!!!!

-- Suzy in Bama (slgt@yahoo.com), November 06, 2001.

Can we see them again tonight do you think? Jennifer in MO

-- Jennifer (none@none.com), November 06, 2001.

Dang!!!! one more reason I hate living in California!!! When I lived in Minnesota I loved seeing them!! I miss that!!!!

-- Jenny (auntjenny6@aol.com), November 06, 2001.

Jenny, I'm in southern California now and they've been visible a few times this past year. It is very rare to be seen this far south though. Back in the spring we had a night they were very visible in southern california and of course people were even calling 911 to report it. Not much more than a reddish haze last night. The sun has been going through a period of high activity for a while now and is expected to continue for another year so there'll be more opportunities.

here's some pictures from the last few nights; http://spaceweather.com/aurora/gallery_06nov01.html

-- Dave (something@somewhere.com), November 06, 2001.

Worried my dear hubby for a bit - the lights appeared in the sky in the general direction of the local nuclear power plant! Way cool, though, even if all we had here was a red cloud-like presentation. Didn't realize I could see them in NC, but I guess such a powerful flare would cause all sorts of global weirdness. Good thing I'd read the post earlier that night, or we'd been one of those panicked calls to the sheriff!

-- Soni (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), November 07, 2001.

I'm soooo disappointed! Weatherman said we would be able to see them here, in eastern Colorado last night, but I sure didn't see anything. Some of those views on the link are fantastic! Really cloudy here tonight, so probably not much chance again. Enjoy the view, those of you who can! Hubby has seen them several times while flying B-52's years ago, but I haven't. Waaaa! Jan

-- Jan in Co (Janice12@aol.com), November 07, 2001.