Aurora watch
Aug. 4th, 2010 09:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
altivoIt takes 30 minutes or so for NOAA to post the results of the latest polar orbital observation of auroral activity. In that time, the value may rise or drop by as much as two activity points. And a half hour ago they posted a value of 9. Somewhere between 9 and 10 is when aurora activity usually becomes visible at my location.
It was pretty cloudy at sunset but the forecast calls for "mostly clear" tonight. So do I walk out to the pasture, braving the mosquitoes, to see if I can spot the aurora? I dunno. I'm sorta waiting for them to post another reading to see if it is holding steady or moving up or down.
In any case, for those of you in North America and at latitudes above 40N or so, there's a good chance of visible aurora around your local midnight time, plus or minus an hour or so. If you've never seen it, I assure you it's well worth seeing.
Those of you who reside above 50N and see it more often are allowed to yawn, but I'll still point out that although I've seen hundreds of gorgeous sunrises and sunsets in my life, I still don't miss an opportunity to see another. Aurora is much rarer. I've seen it perhaps a handful of times in my life, and I don't want to miss an opportunity.
In other news, a federal court judge who was appointed by Ronald Reagan (and we know Reagan didn't favor liberals) ruled today that California's Prop 8 is unconstitutional. Apparently though, he stayed his own judgement from being carried out pending the inevitable appeal. Thus he has fixed nothing, but affirmed my belief that even a so-called "conservative" can't easily argue a way around this. Either the Constitution affirms equal treatment for everyone, or it does not.
Some voices on the extreme right are already mustering to repeal the 14th amendment. I can't believe the selfish gall of such people, I really can't.
Also, the great "I'm in favor of change" Obama has reaffirmed, though a spokesperson, the statement that he opposes gay marriage but favors civil unions. What? Here's a supposed black man saying he supports "separate but equal" treatment. I swear, we have no history at all in this country. Anything earlier than living memory didn't ever happen.
It was pretty cloudy at sunset but the forecast calls for "mostly clear" tonight. So do I walk out to the pasture, braving the mosquitoes, to see if I can spot the aurora? I dunno. I'm sorta waiting for them to post another reading to see if it is holding steady or moving up or down.
In any case, for those of you in North America and at latitudes above 40N or so, there's a good chance of visible aurora around your local midnight time, plus or minus an hour or so. If you've never seen it, I assure you it's well worth seeing.
Those of you who reside above 50N and see it more often are allowed to yawn, but I'll still point out that although I've seen hundreds of gorgeous sunrises and sunsets in my life, I still don't miss an opportunity to see another. Aurora is much rarer. I've seen it perhaps a handful of times in my life, and I don't want to miss an opportunity.
In other news, a federal court judge who was appointed by Ronald Reagan (and we know Reagan didn't favor liberals) ruled today that California's Prop 8 is unconstitutional. Apparently though, he stayed his own judgement from being carried out pending the inevitable appeal. Thus he has fixed nothing, but affirmed my belief that even a so-called "conservative" can't easily argue a way around this. Either the Constitution affirms equal treatment for everyone, or it does not.
Some voices on the extreme right are already mustering to repeal the 14th amendment. I can't believe the selfish gall of such people, I really can't.
Also, the great "I'm in favor of change" Obama has reaffirmed, though a spokesperson, the statement that he opposes gay marriage but favors civil unions. What? Here's a supposed black man saying he supports "separate but equal" treatment. I swear, we have no history at all in this country. Anything earlier than living memory didn't ever happen.
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no subject
Date: 2010-08-05 11:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-05 11:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-05 12:17 pm (UTC)The magnetic latitude of my location is about 52.2N, a full ten degrees farther north than the ordinary geographic latitude, but we still get to actually see the aurora here only a couple of times a decade.
The news media and popular venues like Facebook are full of misrepresentations and exaggerations over this latest solar "event." People are warning each other to shield their computers against corruption by solar radiation and other absurdities. I'm sure some of them have been wearing tinfoil hats too. The truth is, that this even only looks spectacular because we've recently developed the ability to observe and record the physical events in greater detail. A C3 flare or eruption is a pretty small one. Wait till they get the new, better view of a class X event. They'll be running for the abandoned fallout shelters I'm sure.
This is aggravated by the solar cycle itself. People have short memories. When ten years have passed without such events, their return makes them seem scary and threatening again.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-05 12:42 pm (UTC)I am surprised you have a problem with light pollution. I only have to go onto the Dales, and it's not much of a problem for me.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-05 02:27 pm (UTC)Even in the rural areas like mine, people leave outdoor lights on all night. Often these are huge floodlights called "security" lights. The effect on the starscape is maddening, but of course none of them ever look up anyway. They are all indoors staring open mouthed and drooling at the television.
We won't even discuss the noise pollution, which exceeds light pollution by a factor of at least ten.