"what's hot and what's not and what you can't give away...

Just in time for this autumn season...

Mother Nature has provided us, once again,

with some of Her feature art work

by way of these fantastic aurora shots.

You will definitely want to visit these links

to view some breathtaking photographs

and to learn more about

this mysterious natural wonder.

Borealis2000News
AURORA WATCH September 14-15

Sunspot region 808 produced a significant long duration X1.5 proton flare at 19:27 UTC on September 13. A fast (full halo) coronal mass ejection is expected to reach the Earth late on September 14. Observers at high and middle latitudes are strongly encouraged to watch the skies tonight: Major to severe geomagnetic storm levels are possible. Isolated periods of auroral activity may be strong enough to be observed as far south as Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, northern Utah, Nebraska, Illinois, Kentucky and Virginia. Central Europe (Germany, Great Britain, France, Switzerland), central Russia, New Zealand and southern Australia may see periods of activity as well.

Remember: Choose a clear dark-sky viewing location with an unobstructed view to the North (to the South in Australia and New Zealand)! Avoid urban light pollution!

Additional major solar flares and earthward-directed coronal mass ejections may occur during the next few days.

Visit Borealis2000News for solar/auroral activity updates and possible major/severe geomagnetic storm alerts.

Visit Borealis2000News for more information.

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While concentrated in the most northerly and southerly regions, particularly strong aurora displays can extend down into the mid-latitudes. Northern lights, for instance, occasionally creep down to Mexico.

The seasonal lights tend to perk up in the autumn and spring for reasons that are not entirely clear. What scientists do know is that the strength and scope of the sky shows are directly tied to solar activity.

Music: "The Alchemist"

by Bjorn Lynne

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Visit the links below for more information:

http://www.geo.mtu.edu/weather/aurora/

http://www.ptialaska.net/~hutch/aurora.html

http://www.imv.uit.no/english/science/publicat/waynorth/wn1/contents.htm

http://www.exploratorium.edu/learning_studio/auroras/

http://personal.inet.fi/koti/tom.eklund/aurora.html

http://www.northern-lights.no/

http://chapman.sprl.db.erau.edu/aurora.html

http://www.everythingalaska.com/aurora.html

Green ghosts, wispy witches and other glowing phantoms are dancing and darting around in the night skies of October, which has proved a particularly productive month for aurora hunters the world over.

In Finland, Juha Kinnunen captured a glowering witch face with a considerable schnozzle and two greenish ghosts looming over the Lapland.

"Of those three images, only one looked like a ghost with my own eyes as well, for a brief moment. The other two turned up that 'spooky' during the exposure, which was 4 to 6 seconds," Kinnunen said Wednesday.

Auroras, also known as the northern and southern lights, emit light as highly charged particles from the sun excite atoms and molecules high in Earth's atmosphere, which creates a glow in the same manner as neon lights.

"This shows you how an active aurora changes shape continuously. The ghost I photographed appeared for one horrifying moment only."

link: http://borealis2000.com Borealis 2000

Aurora Gallery and Spaceweather News

Sky watchers photographed everything from a floating fairy ring in Norway, multicolor spires in Arizona and pulsating swirls in Australia.