Auroral Activity

[TxWx]

Man Ron....sorry you didn't get to catch the launch* :(* I missed it too, but I'm glad that they got it up and all went well.

Here is a link to Launch Day Videos

From NASA

The Mission Operations Center at the University of California, Berkeley, will monitor the health and status of the five satellites. Instrument scientists will turn on and characterize the instruments during the next 30 days. The center will then assign each spacecraft a target orbit within the THEMIS constellation based on its performance. Mission operators will direct the spacecraft to their final orbits in mid-September.[/b]

As for current space weather it is pretty quiet right now.* There are a couple of spots on the solar disk, but they are magnetically stable at this time, but we did get a very low energy C-class flare (C1.7: 0150z 17Feb07).* The solar winds have really calmed down too.* The coronal hole high speed wind stream that had caused the unsettledness last week has rotated out of geoeffective (Earth facing) position.

[TxWx]

A recurrent coronal hole high speed wind stream will begin to affect the Earth in the next couple of days.* This will agitate the Earth's geomagnetic field and possibly set off some decent auroras.* Currently the solar winds are low, but will be watched for the onset of gusty conditions over the next 12-24 hours.

When will be the next good period for seeing above average auroral activity?

[TxWx]

According to an IPS Radio and Space Services email I received...
25 Feb:* Activity increasing to active levels with the possibility of isolated minor storm periods.

[Waveform]

For anyone interested here is an informative site with some earth solar interactions information..

http://www.spaceweather.gc.ca/effects_e.php

[TxWx]

Excellent info form that site Waveform.* I just ran across the Canadian site a bit back and forgot about it.* Thanks for the reminder.* O0

[Waveform]

TxWx
Something interesting earlier in the week.
The solar wind had a strange 'pulse' last Tuesday at 07:00hrs GMT.
The Boyle index jumped up substantially for about 10 minutes then fell back to low levels.
Not earth shattering news but still an bit strange.

[Waveform]

Interesting article here. This may be more evidence we are headed into a very active solar cycle. Also a bit weird.

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/21....htm?list778348

[Series2]

According to spaceweather.com, we could see an aurora in the next couple of days:

AURORA WATCH: Sky watchers from Scandinavia to Alaska should be alert for auroras on April 10th. A solar wind stream is due to hit Earth, and the impact could cause high-latitude geomagnetic storms.[/b]

:)

[Waveform]

Yes, this should brush by probably Monday night.
But, the odds are it will be more of a Northern show.
Like North West Territories, Scandinavia and areas like that.
However, these thing can be unpredictable. So, it will not hurt to take a look Monday and Tuesday nights 'just in case'. :)