~Space Weather Update~ AURORA OUTBURST: [1]

AURORA OUTBURST: Last night, for the second night in a row, sky watchers around the Arctic Circle witnessed an impressive display of auroras. "I've never seen anything close to this," says Aaro Kukkohovi, who photographed an eruption of light over Lumijoki, Finland:

 

[2]

 

"What a fantastic burst of energy--like something blew a hole into Earth's magnetic field just above us!"

 

HIs rhetorical flourish isn't far wrong. The cause of the display was the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF [3]) tipping south and opening a 'crack [4]' in Earth's magnetosphere. Solar wind poured in and fueled a G1 [5]-class geomagnetic storm. This was a high latitude event; the lights were brightest over Scandinavia, Iceland and Greenland.

more images: from Andrei Penescu [6] of Kangerlussuaq, Greenland; from Heikki Mastokangas [7] of Finland, Lestijärvi; from Andy Keen [8] of Inari Municipality, Lapland, Finland; from Jan Pawlowski [9] of Jyvaeskylae, Finland; from Tom Eklund [10] of Valkeakoski, Finland; from B.Art Braafhart [11] of Salla, Finnish-Lapland

February 2012 Aurora Gallery [12]
[previous Februaries: 2011 [13], 2010 [14], 2009 [15], 2008 [16], 2007 [17], 2006 [18], 2004 [19], 2003 [20], 2002 [21]]

WEEKEND SKY SHOW: This weekend's triangular conjunction of Venus, Jupiter and the crescent Moon was just as good as advertised [22]. On the beach at Edgecomb Pond in Bolton Landing, New York, amateur astronomer John Cordiale found the bright threesome surrounded by a 22^o ice halo [23]:

[24]

"I was photographing the alignment when high thin clouds rolled in," says Cordiale. "They threatened to ruin the view, but then this halo encircled Jupiter, Venus and the Moon, framing them perfectly."

As the week unfolds, the Moon will leave Jupiter and Venus behind, but the show isn't over. The two planets are converging for a close encounter on March 12th and 13th--an event so nice it has been described in a NASA news release [25]. Until then, browse the images below.

 

Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES

Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 1 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 5 storm
explanation [35] | more data [36]

Interplanetary Mag. Field
B_total: 9.1 nT
B_z: 1.4 nT south
explanation [37] | more data [38]
Updated: Today at 1527 UT

Coronal Holes: 28 Feb 12

[39]

There are no large coronal holes on the Earthside of the sun. Credit: SDO/AIA.