OT - Northern Lights Tonight
Mates,
With apologies to the number of times Dante Moore plans on transferring, the board has usually been interested in the Northern Lights. Tonight looks to be a solid reason to turn off your lights and/or go to a dark place (not in the emotional sense) to take a look.
The predicted map looks good and I can tell you that we could see flashes early tonight during barn chores. Have had some cloud cover since then but it is likely to clear and we should be seeing some later.
Chart? Well, not exactly, but how about a map:
Go Blue! Beat Iowa!
XM
November 30th, 2023 at 8:25 PM ^
If only we had a...
It's called a chart amongst the maritime crowd. You win.
EDIT: and thanks for the heads up. Hopefully I'll be able to get a glimpse.
November 30th, 2023 at 8:26 PM ^
Really thinking about heading north a bit from GR tonight, but I'm not sure of a good spot with low enough light pollution and large enough view of the sky that isn't at least 2-3 hours away.
November 30th, 2023 at 8:36 PM ^
Some of the darkest areas of Michigan are between Fremont & Baldwin, only trouble is they’re relatively low with a lot of tree cover.
Along 131 there are a few high points south of Cadillac with pretty low light pollution.
There’s a scenic overlook just north of the Tustin exit that’s pretty dark and high up. This spring I parked there and put my drone up, but never saw any lights. It’s on the southbound side though, so you have to get off on 115 and come back down.
November 30th, 2023 at 8:41 PM ^
Thanks for the tip! Relatively low with with lots of tree cover is the hurdle I was thinking of, otherwise the middle of the state is great for low light pollution. Was trying to look up good spots, but it's hard to find a good place to park it in that area for a while unless you already know of it. Appreciate the suggestion!!
November 30th, 2023 at 9:33 PM ^
Fisk Knob in northern Kent county has a great view. Not sure if it's far enough north to see anything
November 30th, 2023 at 8:27 PM ^
The folks over at RCMB can see the lights just fine.
November 30th, 2023 at 8:29 PM ^
Earth's natural occurrences are spectacular! That includes weather occurrences as long as you are not in them.
November 30th, 2023 at 8:33 PM ^
really, it's the weather on the sun that causes this. earth only participates to have that energy light up in our atmosphere.
November 30th, 2023 at 8:39 PM ^
Can’t see the Michigan Northern Lights, maybe I’ll be able to see the South East Lights someday
November 30th, 2023 at 8:47 PM ^
Some of the best Aurora I ever saw happened in the UP (Hancock) in June of 1991.
I am an avid stargazer, but I live in TX now. Enjoy the show for me if you can. :)
November 30th, 2023 at 11:18 PM ^
I never looked up while I was in A2. Got the bug here down in Texas. Unfortunately, the aurora doesn't travel this far down south.
December 1st, 2023 at 12:11 AM ^
My father in law had a house in Big Bay, about 25 miles west of Marquette and less than a mile off Superior. I don't recall the year, but it might well have been 1991. I spent the entire night in a lawn chair beside Lake Independence watching them. Some of the most spectacular violets I have seen. Watching them dancing, advancing and receding, was just mesmerizing.
December 1st, 2023 at 5:27 AM ^
dear wife and i were newlyweds and we were flying into marquette one october night from socal. we planned on moving there but i wanted her to see it for a few days and make sure her 'yes!' was well informed. as we're getting close to landing i can see out the plane window what looks like the northern lights but they were just starting up. she'd of course never seen them as a socal girl.
we get the rental car and i take her right down to lake superior and yes, the northern lights are 'on' and it's really cool. as we sit there the single most dramatic shooting star i have ever seen starts from the far north horizon and shoots across the entire sky, disappearing south of town. wow.
i found out 2 days later that shooting star happened within 30 minutes of my grandmother's passing in arizona, she who had been born in marquette in 1904 but had moved to AZ later in life.
December 1st, 2023 at 6:58 AM ^
That has to be quite a memory. SoCal to the UP has to be quite the change.
December 1st, 2023 at 8:47 AM ^
two of my most favorite memories from that time were when i told my 'team', the multi-jurisdictional task force that i was part of, that i was leaving and going to the UP, and months later at the july 4th parade in marquette with my wife, and what she said to me as the parade passed slowly by.
November 30th, 2023 at 8:48 PM ^
XM what is your aurora forecast of choice? I've leaned into the NOAA aurora forecast site in the past but doesn't seem to predict forward very well.
I've been fortunate to catch them at the tip of Old Mission peninsula several times but the best I've ever seen was around 2004(?) driving north on 127 near Clare when it was -25° out. Have been hooked ever since and try to catch them when they're out.
November 30th, 2023 at 9:39 PM ^
not sure i have a favorite site, but at least two of the ones i look to beyond the NOAA forecast are these:
https://www.gi.alaska.edu/monitors/aurora-forecast
https://www.aurorahunter.com/northern-lights-forecast.html
that second one also talks about the usual 11 yr solar cycle that we are on the upswing, but includes this:
: Where are we now on the solar cycle?
A: The sun is ramping up to Solar Maximum faster than anyone expected. The peak was originally predicted for 2025, but with all the sunspot activity and new modeling techniques, it is now predicted for 2024. The sun is in the midst of flipping its magnetic field right now! This magnetic reversal causes the sun to eject a lot of charged particles into the solar wind. This is good news for aurora hunters because the solar-released energy is the generating force of the aurora. The next few “peak phase” years should all be good
so it's fun, keep your lights off, eyes up, and it look to the stars.
November 30th, 2023 at 10:19 PM ^
Thanks for the reminder, XM. I’m in Petoskey and heading to the waterfront to, hopefully, gaze at some lights.
An app I use on my iPhone is My Aura Forecasts. It gives a lot of great info and lets you know the likelihood of seeing Northern Lights from your location. Go Blue!
November 30th, 2023 at 8:49 PM ^
Thanks for the heads up. Normally, I would go out in search, but for dinner tonight, I ate a taco for each of Michigan's wins. So I will be s_ittin' this one out.
November 30th, 2023 at 8:49 PM ^
I love living in A2 but the light pollution here in SE MI is one of the few drawbacks. Hope you all see some great stuff.
November 30th, 2023 at 8:52 PM ^
Just came out to see it as well in Ypsi. Nothing.
November 30th, 2023 at 9:33 PM ^
Well then I won’t bother going out to look….thanks for doing my dirty work….
December 1st, 2023 at 4:09 AM ^
I had a conversation with a gal some years ago, and she said “I love living in superior township because there’s no light pollution” and I just wanted to give her a hug and tell her she needs to get out more. Hope she gets up north on a clear night some day. Northern MI has some of the best night sky viewing this side of the Mississippi
November 30th, 2023 at 9:43 PM ^
It looks like most of the southern half of the lower peninsula will be cloudy, sadly: Northern Lights Watch: Where will the clear skies be in Michigan tonight (MLive)
November 30th, 2023 at 10:34 PM ^
Awesome! Seeing the Northern Lights is on my bucket list - along with visiting Alaska (my last of the 50 states tour). Hope it’s spectacular for y’all!
December 1st, 2023 at 12:22 AM ^
Aurora borealis?? At this time of year, at this time of day, in this part of the country, localized entirely within your kitchen?
#steamedhams
December 1st, 2023 at 5:19 AM ^
and now the sky is wonderfully clear. unfortunately the moon rose and is near full, thus the northern lights aren't visible now. still, fun to see.
EDIT: and it looks like it ramped up big time, but shifted away from over the top of hudson bay and of course michigan
