Comments on: Flares and auroras http://www.starchamber.com/2005/09/flares-and-auroras.html Ned Gulley's Blog. Resident buzzwords: synthetic biology, ambient displays, swarm robotics, wise crowds. Fri, 21 Nov 2008 23:19:29 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 By: Ned http://www.starchamber.com/2005/09/flares-and-auroras.html#comment-824 Ned Thu, 22 Sep 2005 04:35:00 +0000 http://starchamber.com/?p=1133#comment-824 That'd be a bummer if I'm too far south to see the aurora borealis. But hey! Maybe the good news is I'm far enough south to see the aurora australis... That’d be a bummer if I’m too far south to see the aurora borealis. But hey! Maybe the good news is I’m far enough south to see the aurora australis…

]]> By: JMike http://www.starchamber.com/2005/09/flares-and-auroras.html#comment-823 JMike Tue, 20 Sep 2005 14:37:49 +0000 http://starchamber.com/?p=1133#comment-823 I grew up in Minneapolis (45 North runs through Minneapolis so it's about two-and-a-half degrees north of Boston.) I'm pretty sure I saw the aurora fairly clearly twice, both in the dead of winter: once on my morning paper route at 5am, and once on the way to an after-orchestra-concert party at about 10pm or so. With that morning paper route, I logged an awful lot of way-before-sunrise outside time, and I was generally interested in the stars and such. What I'm driving at is that the aurora is (are? is aurora plural?) a pretty rare phenomenon at 45 north, and I'm sure the extra two-and-a-half degrees are a lot more important than they might seem, plus there's a lot of light pollution in the Boston area. So you may end up with quite a set of painted fingernails/toenails/hair/hands/feet/etc. before Northern Lights coms a-callin'. --JMike I grew up in Minneapolis (45 North runs through Minneapolis so it’s about two-and-a-half degrees north of Boston.)

I’m pretty sure I saw the aurora fairly clearly twice, both in the dead of winter: once on my morning paper route at 5am, and once on the way to an after-orchestra-concert party at about 10pm or so.

With that morning paper route, I logged an awful lot of way-before-sunrise outside time, and I was generally interested in the stars and such.

What I’m driving at is that the aurora is (are? is aurora plural?) a pretty rare phenomenon at 45 north, and I’m sure the extra two-and-a-half degrees are a lot more important than they might seem, plus there’s a lot of light pollution in the Boston area. So you may end up with quite a set of painted fingernails/toenails/hair/hands/feet/etc. before Northern Lights coms a-callin’.

–JMike

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