News! In! SPAAAAAAACE...

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

An occasional thread for those interested in space news.

 

If you're looking to see the Bifrost, and/or get those mutant powers you've been dreaming about, one of the strongest Coronal Mass Ejections of recent times is heading towards Earth, landing between 1800 UTC 15th and 1800 UTC 16th April. This might play merry hob with some satellites and electrical systems, but mostly - thanks to the wondrous magnetosphere shield - will just give you pretty lights. This big one should give aurorae much farther south than usual.

 

And they're getting stronger every day...

 

 

You can get Space Weather from the Met Office at:

https://weather.metoffice.gov.uk/specialist-forecasts/space-weather

 

...and the rather nerdier NOAA at:

https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/

 

...and it's worth getting the AuroraWatch UK or SpaceWeatherLive app for alerts.

Also, get yourself a long-exposure camera app like NightCap: they come up a lot clearer on phone screens than with the naked eye. 

 

And no, CMEs are not causing global warming.

Or, and I say this advisedly, mutating the neutrinos.

 

 

Edited April 14 by ThaOGDreamWeaver

[Techwright]

I'd very much like to see this.  My state is so far south that there has only been one sighting of the lights in my lifetime (to my knowledge).  That occurred last year, and those who saw it (I didn't) took shots of an ethereal red glow in the sky. 

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

It's worth keeping an eye out during these major events for those beautiful glows in the sky.

Scotland and the Islands are better in the UK for aurorae, but I've had one event where it got to 1500 nanoTeslas (unit of atmospheric disturbance, not very small cars) and I saw it with the naked eye.

 

Although do make sure that IS what you're seeing...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c04348v8r9eo

[Healix]

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

Quote

“I’m not screaming, ‘aliens!’” said Nikole Lewis, an exoplanetary scientist at Cornell University. “But I always reserve my right to scream ‘aliens!’”

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/16/science/astronomy-exoplanets-habitable-k218b.html?unlocked_article_code=1.AE8.OhXe.NLO71XuZkomS&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=p

Edited April 17 by ThaOGDreamWeaver

[WanderingAries]