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Most of Europe is glowing pink under the aurora

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361–370 of 406 posts

Re: Most of Europe is glowing pink under the aurora

#361

I feel I need to report my experience from Denmark, Jutland. It started with white broad streaks, which most of all looked like fog, but then perhaps after 10 minutes or so, we saw colors of red, purple and green begin to emerge from the these streaks. Most astoundingly it all seemed to emanate from a fluctuating point in the middle of the sky. If you looked closely at this point you could see it fall into itself, mo…

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Re: Most of Europe is glowing pink under the aurora

#362

I feel I need to report my experience from Denmark, Jutland. It started with white broad streaks, which most of all looked like fog, but then perhaps after 10 minutes or so, we saw colors of red, purple and green begin to emerge from the these streaks. Most astoundingly it all seemed to emanate from a fluctuating point in the middle of the sky. If you looked closely at this point you could see it fall into itself, mo…

I was out flying a camera drone on the river Dee between Liverpool and North Wales filming the sunset, when I started getting magnetic interference warnings. At the same time, I started to see flashes in the sky. Then my vision was filled with sparkling lights. A few minutes later I got an aurora warning from my brother and the aurora app. KP 8-9 As the sun went down I was waking through a woodland. I thought the dar…

Which app have you been using for the aurora warning?

Re: Most of Europe is glowing pink under the aurora

#363
post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no evidence that this use was real. Mythbusters tried it and said the trick itself does work (which any of has may already know), but who knows if it was even practical in a pirate boat, vs the loss of stereo vision etc. The whole idea of pirates wearing eyepatches seems simply the replication of one particularly colorful pirate archetype over centuries of literature and tales.

I feel like the advantages of stereo vision may be oversold in this scenario. At the distances that sailing vessels would engage there's limited need for binocular depth cues - they really only start to come into play at the point where you would begin a boarding action

Have you ever tried to climb a rope ladder on a moving ship?

Stereo vision is helpful on ships (and allmost everywhere else where you need eyes), even when not boarding.

Re: Most of Europe is glowing pink under the aurora

#364

The earth is the greatest spaceship we’ll ever know. Complete magic is this phenomenon. Feels like one is engulfed in the Aurora when it’s strong. First time I experienced it the arctic circle actually scared me.

It's really damn beautiful, but it's scary. Whenever there are events on Earth that aren't typical of nature at regular times for some reason I always think it's not a good sign..

Don't worry, it's very typical. Just the timescales are literally astronomical.

Re: Most of Europe is glowing pink under the aurora

#366

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It varries significantly depending where you are. Both could be true for different people viewing them from different places.

These would be interesting data points based on season, location, and weather conditions nonetheless.

That's a little like asking people to report how wet they got when it was raining, and not controlling for if they have an umbrella or were out after the storm passed.

Re: Most of Europe is glowing pink under the aurora

#367

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was out flying a camera drone on the river Dee between Liverpool and North Wales filming the sunset, when I started getting magnetic interference warnings. At the same time, I started to see flashes in the sky. Then my vision was filled with sparkling lights. A few minutes later I got an aurora warning from my brother and the aurora app. KP 8-9 As the sun went down I was waking through a woodland. I thought the dar…

Which app have you been using for the aurora warning?

Not who you were replying to, but I've had the AuroraWatch UK app installed for a while now (and yes, we enjoyed last night's display, after being alerted by the app).

Re: Most of Europe is glowing pink under the aurora

#368
post #363

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like the advantages of stereo vision may be oversold in this scenario. At the distances that sailing vessels would engage there's limited need for binocular depth cues - they really only start to come into play at the point where you would begin a boarding action

Have you ever tried to climb a rope ladder on a moving ship? Stereo vision is helpful on ships (and allmost everywhere else where you need eyes), even when not boarding.

I don't have binocular vision. I lived aboard a sailboat for a few years. I'm quite active with rock climbing etc and I honestly don't think I would be able to do anything better if I had binocular vision...

Just a thought

Re: Most of Europe is glowing pink under the aurora

#369

I feel I need to report my experience from Denmark, Jutland. It started with white broad streaks, which most of all looked like fog, but then perhaps after 10 minutes or so, we saw colors of red, purple and green begin to emerge from the these streaks. Most astoundingly it all seemed to emanate from a fluctuating point in the middle of the sky. If you looked closely at this point you could see it fall into itself, mo…

Someone shared something similar on Twitter: https://x.com/packyM/status/1789113052723314918

Wow that's magnificent.

Re: Most of Europe is glowing pink under the aurora

#370
post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn’t look like that in reality. If I take a photo on my phone here in the UK midlands I get pink and green in all directions with a 3 second exposure. However with just the naked eye it’s like super high level clouds

Ok why is it that some people say northern lights look EXACTLY like these spectacular photos, and others say in real life they are actually barely visible and you need a camera and very dark skies? Is there some kind of running joke I’m missing? I saw some northern lights in Iceland but they were very dim and underwhelming, I didn’t even know what I was looking at until I photographed them and saw the vivid green str…

I wonder the same. My wife and I drove out to a park east of Seattle late last night to spend a couple hours watching the aurora, and it was... okay. I saw some faint grey wisps, like high-altitude clouds, which occasionally faded away and reappeared elsewhere. A mild novelty, but nothing I would bother to seek out again; I assumed we were too far south, or out of the path, and hadn't gotten to see it properly.

This morning, though, my feeds are chock-a-block with dramatic, colorful, detailed photos, complete with rapturous commentary about the drama of the spectacle, posted by people in the same area who were apparently watching the same sky! Well... that's a different experience than I had. I'd been told that the colors showed up more clearly through a camera, but I hadn't realized there would be little to see without one.

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