Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms Northern Lights

Anyone on here in the UK see them directly?? ..... Aside from a few glimpses the sightings seem to be all via camera with the resulting enhancements rather than 'naked eye' ... only seen one dim 'as seen' aurora so far this year even up here and in a dark rural spot... plenty of time over the next few years as the activity maximum happens 🙂

K

No Keith. Too much light pollution where I live, that or deep cloud cover

Spaceweather.

THE GEMINID METEOR SHOWER: Earth is entering a stream of debris from 3200 Phaethon, source of the annual Geminid meteor shower. Last night, Dec 11-12, NASA cameras recorded 23 Geminid fireballs over the USA. Many more are coming. Forecasters expect the shower to peak on Dec. 13-14 with as many as 100 meteors/hour visible from dark sky sites.

Spaceweather.

HAPPY SOLSTICE! Today is the shortest day of the year in the Northern hemisphere, and the longest day in the south--that is, it's the "December solstice." The exact moment of the solstice is Thursday, Dec. 21st, at 10:27 p.m. EST, when the sun stops moving south and starts moving north again. This event marks the beginning of winter in the north and summer in the south.


BIG SUNSPOT ALERT: Sunspot AR3529 is still growing, quadrupling in size since Tuesday.

With two primary dark cores twice the size of Earth, AR3529 is an easy target for solar filtered telescopes. You can even see it through eclipse glasses no magnification required.
Of greater interest is the sunspot's 'delta-class' magnetic field. Within the sunspot + and - magnetic polarities are pressing together. Magnetic reconnection could produce an X-Class solar flare. Any eruptions today will be Earth-directed, as the sunspot is almost directly facing Earth.

Potential for hf (shortwave) radio blackouts in some areas and possible enhancement in others. At present the planetary indices are showing as quiet.

Whilst absolutely correct, I tend to see the winter Solstice as the turning point, in that days now lengthen and start to herald spring is just around the corner. And when we get the dark long days of January over, summer is nearly upon us. I know hopelessly optimistic with winter upon us, but we have in the past had daffodils in mild Decembers around here.

On Tuesday we saw some blooming daffodils on the roadside in Landrake Cornwall, ours are about an 1" out of the ground at present.

Although the Solstice is generally on the 21st, I believe this year it's 3.27 am on the morning of the 22nd ... anyway I'll be having my customary 'encourage the sun back' bonfire tomorrow evening 🙂 I don't set much store by Xmas or New Year as they are just Human constructs and have changed dates to suit religious powers at their whim. The Solstice, however, is a cosmic reality beyond the wit and power of Bureaucrats and Bishops to bugger about with .... a real reference point for the changing of the seasons and the turning of the world .... to acknowledge that is to make an unfiltered link back to our ancestors.

Was perfect last year ... dry, crisp and calm with a starry sky ... this year looks like rain and 50 mph winds under a leaden sky ... will make the effort of course but may not linger round the fire swapping stories with my neighbours over a bottle of rum for long!! 🙂

K

Ps ... I can glibly avoid the Xmas commercial mayhem only because I didn't have kids ... and have my other-half who's as curmudgeonly as I am 😁

All works perfectly for me too K

British weather

9 months of anticipation followed by 3 months of disappointment.

Scottish weather - Four seasons in one day.

For anyone else interested in the Winter Solstice down South here are the arrangements for Stonehenge.