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A solar outburst sparked surprising displays of the northern lights as far south as Arkansas, Mississippi and North Carolina tonight, marking one of the farthest-reaching auroral shows in years.
As word spread about the geomagnetic storm, photos streamed onto the Web from the usual places, such as Norway, Sweden and Iceland, but also from locales that are typically too far south to see the northern lights: Oklahoma ... Kansas ... Kentucky ... Tennessee ... Virginia.
Among the websites tracking the fireworks are SpaceWeather.com, the Weather Channel and Universe Today.
Brian Emfinger / www.realclearwx.com
Photographer Brian Emfinger captured this view of the northern lights from a spot near Ozark, Ark.
Arkansas photographer Brian Emfinger was alerted to the northern lights by SpaceWeather.com's aurora alert. "I ran out and put my camera out and immediately saw reddish aurora," he wrote. "I ran out into the field, and within a few minutes the aurora went crazy!"
Randy Halverson / Dakotalapse.com
Photographer Randy Halverson saw a beautiful green and red aurora over Wisconsin.
Photographer Randy Halverson captured a whole string of auroral pictures from a vantage point west of Madison, Wis., with his 16-year-old son, River. Father and son were amazed to see how bright the lights were. "At one point they were so bright they lit up the ground," Randy wrote.
Richard Miller
Richard Miller was visiting Washington Court House, Ohio, when he snapped this picture of the reddish aurora.
Richard Miller, a resident of London, was visiting Washington Court House, Ohio, when he snapped a picture of the red glow over the neighborhood. "Seeing the Aurora Borealis on my family visit to Ohio made the trip one to remember," Miller told me in an email. "As an amateur astronomer, I've never seen anything like it before."
David DelaGardelle / maddwarfworkshop.com
David DelaGardelle snapped this picture of the northern lights as he was heading home from his Indiana workshop.
David DelaGardelle, who's a full-time blacksmith/swordmaker/artisan in Indiana, was driving home from his Mad Dwarf Workshop when he saw the spectacle. He said he was awestruck by the sight of "blood-red northern lights aflame in the night sky."
Jeff Berkes
Pennsylvania photographer Jeff Berkes captured a quick image of the auroral glow.
Jeff Berkes, a Pennsylvania photographer who shared a photo of the Orionid meteor shower with us earlier today, also sent in a quick snapshot of the northern lights. "They were only out for a few minutes, and I was only able to get off five shots, two of which were blurry from the car shaking," he wrote in an email.
The cause of the show was a coronal mass ejection from the sun that hit Earth's magnetosphere at about 2 p.m. ET, SpaceWeather.com reported.
The impact caused a strong compression in the magnetic field, allowing electrically charged particles from the solar wind to penetrate down to geosynchronous orbit (22,000 miles or 35,000 kilometers in altitude). That means Earth-orbiting satellites could have been exposed to the solar storm, analysts said.
Solar activity is on the upswing toward an expected peak of the sun's 11-year cycle in 2013, and the past few months have been marked by strong auroral activity. Here's a picture of an aurora as seen from the International Space Station on Sept. 29 as it flew over the midwestern United States.
Consult NASA's Earth Observatory website to get your bearings, and watch this QuickTime video for a moving experience of the space station's flyover:
NASA
This greenish auroral display was seen from the International Space Station on Sept. 29 as the orbital outpost was passing over the American Midwest. The city lights of Omaha, Des Moines, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Chicago and St. Louis are visible below.
All these pictures may be pretty, but stronger solar storms can have a significant downside: They could disrupt satellite communication as well as power grids. There were no immediate indications that tonight's bout of space weather caused significant problems.
More auroral glories:
- Spaceships bask in aurora's glow
- Red sky at night, astronaut's delight
- Fly over the southern lights
- Beautiful blasts from solar storms
- Southern lights are sweeter in space
- Month in Space: Still more beautiful blasts
Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter or adding me to your Google+ circle. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for other worlds.
Leave a Comment:
I'm surprised that the "Green" People and the "Global Warming" People don't have their explanation for the solar phenomena.. e.g. Leaves not turning color this fall.. We all know the leaves turn color because of the lack of sunlight.. not because the temperature is warmer.. Among other things they say are affecting to the Earth.. Well..
Hold on a second... The leaves haven't turned colors? So all the trees everywhere in the far reaches of the northern hemisphere are still green?
How is that not news?
I live in North Dakota, right on the border with Minnesota and have a cabin on a lake in central Minnesota. If the leaves didn't turn color this fall then several million people have had a shared hallucination that lasted several weeks.
I'm guessing that might have been mentioned in the news somewhere.
I have seen the Aurora while working in Alaska. Really cool event. I don't think anyone should put the event down for any reason. It is marvel of nature and with respect to our creator. No accident in evolution could make these things occur. I'm not sure how anyone would stray off course and mention politicians in the same context of miracles in nature. Politicians would only discuss ways to tie taxes or God into an event such as an Aurora. No need for that. People need to see with better eyes the wonders of nature. I live in a thunderstorm prone area of the country (TEXAS) and there is nothing as amazing in nature as a severe thunderstorm with lots of lightning. I was at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally one year at the Buffalo Chip during a Kenny Wayne Sheppard concert and the high plains was demonstrating a magnificient lighning event thousands of feet above the backdrop of the stage. People were mesmerized by the lightning during the show. It was like God saying let me show you what I can do...Good memories.
This has nothing to do with evolution. People lack basic sense to even understand which scientific principle applies to which phenomenan in nature. You can invoke the failed God hypothesis as you like, but these phenomenan are well understood by Science. After all the God hypothesis is the biggest failure in human history
The Republicans did it, all the Bull @!$%# that they put out caught fire and caused a Red Glow in the sky!!!
Dear Frank Braun:
Right! That's how it happened.
It might have been a back-lash from the Federal Reserve Bank on the Wall Street Protesters around the Country.. Who Knows??
woxnerw - at least your explanation is plausible.
Sense I've retired and recently, I've been thinking in StrangE WayS.. I might have to return to work.. This time, do the Back Shift.. hehe
More likely than religion.
It used to be that the Auroras could only be seen in Arctic regions on the planet. Now recently they have been seen in Maryland, Pennsylvania and Mississippi which definitely means that the sun is growing more powerful. It happened one time when the Aurora went over a city in Canada it knocked out the power for 6 million people in that city. The Auroras are beautiful but hopefully this is all that will come of it.
Fools mock...
I'm a Christian (OK, I'M A MORMON, I ADMIT IT...)
...but to each his own. Some of us see the beauty in this world, and we can either attribute it to God, science, both, or neither; others see the same beauty & mock those who appreciate it, out of a need to feel superior...
I used to see the northern lights quite regularly when I lived in Northern Minnesota. The greatest free light show on earth.
I'll tell you this, though. If I were outside and witnessing the Northern Lights, the Auroras and if there were Jesus people out there with all their holy rolliness, I'd go back inside and see the Auroras from the internet. What a lot of stuffings to spoil the show.
"The heavens declare the Glory of God; and the firmament showeth(is showing) His Handiwork!" -PSALMS 19:1(also, ROMANS 1:17-22)~
Look and ye shall see...(-s-)
i live in northern michigan ive seen the lights before but nothing like last night, it was unreal so bright i could see like it was daytime, vivid red, pink, green absolutly beautiful, best display in years!
My 'belief system' is based on personal experience of God's Word. You can actually meet God and KNOW Him through His living Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, or you can mock and blaspheme and forsake your own Mercy! The choice is very clear...(Sorry, if this is off-subject!)
If you were truly sorry for saying it then why post it?
Fatima. I know that connection. Get ready.
Let's not show our backsides to each other. Just know that He is. Whether any of us acknowledge Him or not, He still is. Let's just enjoy the beauty and pray for those who don't realize that the electomagnetic forces that show us this spectacular manifestation, did not just evolve. He is giving us a gift before He asks for us to account for our sins. And, yes, we all sin. Imagine that as we imagine His power in the heavens.
You all are so ignorant of God's ways that you must remember back in the early 1900's when NASA , the NSA and the CIA created the Northern light's in the sky for the sole purpose of showing of all of Man's Great Achievements......... ..,..Seems like it was right around the time we Made the first Nuclear Bomb so that we copuld destroy the entire earth if anyone did not believe in the American Way. Japan did not so look what we did to them........How could any sane, rational person look at the world today and then read with understanding the book of Revelations and NOT BELIEVE in GOD. I will pray for everyone, especially at the moment of your last breath.......I guess human beings must have been created far off in the future by another man and then simply teleported back in time by some aliens somewhere....sooner or later they are bound to come back and FIX THE PROBLEM BY ELIMINATING THE PROBLEM .......RIGHT????? Either that or remember that FAITH is the SUBSTANCE OF THINGS UNSEEN and accept that without FAITH of course if APPEARS that man is HIS OWN GREATEST ACHIEVEMENT....WHICH MEANS THAT OBAMA MUST BE GOD'S GREATEST CREATION AND WE SHOULD ALL FOLLOW HIS RULES AND REGULATIONS AND BE JUDGED BY OUR GOVERNMENT........GOT BAD NEWS FOR YOU ......THAT ONLY WORKS AS LONG AS WE ARE ALIVE AND BREATHING......I DON'T UNDERSTAND THE RATIONAL OF SEEING THE NORTHERN LIGHTS AND THINKING THAT THERE IS NO GOD
That post hurt my brain.
Sounds like a conspiracy theorist. A little nurotic perhaps with the CAPS..
The Northern Lights are actually the result of collisions between gaseous particles in the Earth's atmosphere with charged particles released from the sun's atmosphere. Variations in colour are due to the type of gas particles that are colliding. The most common auroral color, a pale yellowish-green, is produced by oxygen molecules located about 60 miles above the earth. Rare, all-red auroras are produced by high-altitude oxygen, at heights of up to 200 miles. Nitrogen produces blue or purplish-red aurora.
We know you forgot to take your meds but did you remember to put on your tinfoil hat??
Proud West Virginian, Wow! I can't believe your calling our Leader the President of the United States a Bozo. Obviously your Republican and have a very short memory. President Obama did not creat this mess! Your Republican President George W. Bush did! It's really too bad how you dump all of your hatred onto the one person who is trying to clean up the mess. You may not like how his ideas, but somebody has to clean up the mess the REPUBLICANS created.
How many jobs has Obama created in his almost 4 years in office. I think he's gone on Holiday more than he's created jobs..
Wait a second.
Northern Lights >>>>>>>>>> Obama's lack of job creation.
How did that happen?
Dizzl, first off I would never consider the Northern Lights to be a "mess" but it doesn't surprise me that someone would blame Bush, after all he's been blamed for every calamity since the demise of dinosaurs 65 million years ago. He used Mr. Peabody's wayback machine to do it!
rave353, obama hasn't created any jobs, he's been busy creating miracles like the Northern Lights!
These northern lights seen down south are the evidence of the great generosity of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The most consumate of all artists in the universe. He wants as many people as posible to enjoy the beauty of his creation!
THE SCORE:
"Mysterious" Scientific Solar 'anomoly': 1
Uneducated Religious Finatics: 0
Obama: -2
"God for you is where you sweep away all the mysteries of the world, all the challenges to our intelligence. You simply turn your mind off and say God did it." - Carl Sagan (1934-1996), Contact
Only if the world was more acceptant to things that they do not understand and accepting the fact that Not all things can be explained. As the world moves things are changing. The vast expansion of space belittles us.
"It is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring." - Carl Sagan
Sure we can debate the world. We can pretend that an all mighty celestial dictator that may or may not exist with no verifiable proof, regaurdless of who that celestial body is..
You can claim that the reference book that you hold so dear, which theres only ONE book right? How come there are over a hundred different versions? That's not one book. For instance, King James Version, Thats not "Original" That's "King James' version" of it.. whats to not say that there is differences in the original story. Same as it goes down the line of people to being at the end of Purple Monkey Dishwasher.. Regaurdless of your religious background there is no SOLID evidence that you can show to say that its really there. Everything is theorums.
"Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than going to the garage makes you a car." - Laurence J. Peter
If knowing is believing, then we are to learn, but if we are not allowed? Why we should not eat from the tree of knowledge, to remain ignorant?
If God Accepts all Who Believe, then why does it say women are not allowed in heaven? "Moral: a peerless maxim enumerated by God in his Holy Bible, such as that of Deut. 23:1, if your testicles are crushed or your male member missing, you must never enter a sanctuary of the Lord." ~ Donald Morgan
As Long as there is Religion There will be war. When people fear they want to destroy what they do not know, and fear of the unknown is quite too common.
Im not bashing anyone aside of pointing out bits of knowledge that I've come across.
Often the things we can not explain are the most intrugingly beautiful.
Food for Thought;
"The hands that help are better far than lips that pray." Robert Green Ingersoll
"Religion has actually convinced people that there's an invisible man -- living in the sky -- who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do.. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever 'til the end of time! ..But He loves you." - George Carlin
"To talk of immaterial existences is to talk of nothings. To say that the human soul, angels, god, are immaterial, is to say they are nothings, or that there is no god, no angels, no soul. I cannot reason otherwise: but I believe I am supported in my creed of materialism by Locke, Tracy, and Stewart. At what age of the Christian church this heresy of immaterialism, this masked atheism, crept in, I do not know. But heresy it certainly is." Thomas Jefferson
"But who prays for Satan? Who, in eighteen centuries, has had the common humanity to pray for the one sinner that needed it most?" - Mark Twain
Rave353- Check out The Truth Project if you would like some additional perspective.
Damn..... missed it. Wish there was some way we could be notified that something like this could possibly happen before it happens. I'm on the internet and read the news several times a day and never heard a thing about this event before it happened. The pictures are awesome.
It's a warning the Aliens are coming and they are pissed! lol
They want their pyramids back!
Fascinating. Unfortunately it was CLOUDY where I live so I missed the show:( All it takes is a spike in solar activity to make the aurora borealis visible from latitudes considerably more south. Elegant physics...how charged particles spiralling down magnetic lines of force can produce such a beautiful display. Glad people in more southern regions got to see something that's relatively-common in more northern regions.
This, my friends, is solely a scientific anomoly! Nothing more, nothing less! PHOTONS.... read about them!
Photons and Jesus.
Was driving home from seeing my niece in Johnson City, Tn. last night down I-81. We saw this in the sky, was beautiful and amazing wish I had taken pictures. God is Great!
WOW I thought I woke up on a tuesday in my house and that I was going to read about the Northern lights.I then realized It was sunday in my Grandpa's church.I really cant understand why people have to turn every article they comment on into a religious or political argument.I thank those who posted pics and shared them.I have wanted to show my daughters and wife the Northern lights and I missed them.I havent seen them since I was a kid and my wife Never has she is from Puerto Rico and my daughters are 6 and 3 and have just began showin much interest in the stars,moon ect... As for the Pushy religious please keep it to yourself all ive seen religion do is cause damage to our world.People pretend to be oh so Holly towards those with their same beliefs but worship in a different way or a different building or a different GOD and watch those Holly people condemn others for not following their god or their beliefs.You wont find God in a building or become closer to him by judging others for their different faith or lack of faith.I believe in Karma not religion live life as best you can with an open mind and open heart admit whem your wrong and dont gloat when your right.After all its just life Nobody gets out alive so enjoy yourselves just not at the expence of others.
WOW I thought I woke up on a tuesday in my house and that I was going to read about the Northern lights.I then realized It was sunday in my Grandpa's church.I really cant understand why people have to turn every article they comment on into a religious or political argument.I thank those who posted pics and shared them.I have wanted to show my daughters and wife the Northern lights and I missed them.I havent seen them since I was a kid and my wife Never has he is from Puerto Rico and my daughters are 6 and 3 and have just began showin much interest in the stars,moon ect... As for the Pushy religious please keep it to yourself all ive seen religion do is cause damage to our world.People pretend to be oh so Holly towards those with their same beliefs but worship in a different way or a different building or a different GOD and watch those Holly people condemn others for not following their god or their beliefs.You wont find God in a building or become closer to him by judging others for their different faith or lack of faith.I believe in Karma not religion live life as best you can with an open mind and open heart admit whem your wrong and dont gloat when your right.After all its just life NObody gets out alive so enjoy yourselves just not at the exspence of others.
I appologize for posting twice not quite sure what I did
satinpit, didn't you know apologizing is a form of civility, which has absolutely no place on these sites! I'm reporting you for your breech of etiquette ;-)
Just watch that video.