David's Astronomy Pages (All Sky Camera) Aurora on night 2025-03-19 / 2025-03-20

Aurora 2025-03-17

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Aurora 2025-03-21

Aurora

Notes

Night Summary (Keogram) Plot AllSky Pictures Videos Magnetometer Stack Plots (for reference) Planetary K-Index Plot (for reference) Aurora Forecast, NOAA/Ovation (for reference)

- Auroral activity in the evening on 2025-03-19 associated with a brief period of geomagnetic activity up to KP5. Skies in NE Scotland were generally clear.    Activity was visible on camera images from 19:45 to 21:20 UT, with peak at 20:05 to 20:25 UT. Observed activity comprised weak auroral glow an occasional arc to 12° and occasional moving curtains and rays to 45° altitude. The aurora display was recorded using the Observatory's new Tapo C325WB Colour Night Vision Camera, with images processed in real time by a new AstroColorCam program built for handing the frames captured by iSpy. Images and video below compare colour images captured by the new Camera, with the black/white images captured using the existing AllSky Camera at approximately the same time.   -  Scandinavia magnetometers recorded a sharp spike in activity at 20:10 UT     - Telescope Images from 2025-03-19 >> -

Night Summary (Keogram) Plot

Night Summary Plot - North Sky (2025-03-19) Times on plot are local times (GMT  = UTC +00h ) Brief period of aurora between 19:45 and 21:20 UT, with peak at 20:10 to 20:25 UT

Night Summary Plot - North Sky (2025-03-19) Times on plot are local times (GMT  = UTC +00h ) Aurora not obvious on b/w keogram due of the cloudy intervals

Scandinavia Magnetometers vs NorthCam Keogram - 2025-03-19 / 2025-03-20

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Pictures (AllSky Camera)

Panoramic View - Northern Sky

2025-03-19 19:55 UT (GMT) Faint auroral arc developing

2025-03-19 20:05 UT (GMT) Aurora arc to 11° altitude . Faint rays developing to 25° altitude

2025-03-19 20:07 UT (GMT) Auroral arc with violet and red rays to 25-30° altitude.  Lower aurora band developing with active curtains

2025-03-19 20:09 UT (GMT)  Bright auroral arc to 12° altitude Curtains on lower aurora band. Red & violot rays to 30-40 deg altitude.

2025-03-19 20:12 UT (GMT) Violet rays to 30-35 deg altitude.

2025-03-19 20:14 UT (GMT) Strong activity with rays to 40° altitude.  Mauve rays in NNW-NNE direction. Brighter pink rays in NW to 40° altitude

2025-03-19 20:16 UT (GMT)  .Aurora continuing

2025-03-19 20:19 UT (GMT)  Activity contiuning. Violet rays to 45° altitude in NNE direction

2025-03-19 20:24 UT (GMT) Declining activity, Chaotic character

2025-03-19 20:35 UT (GMT) Aurora fading

2025-03-19 20:39 UT (GMT) Aurora fading away. Green glow/arc in N direction is barely visible

15s frames taken with Tapo C325WB Colour Camera vs 30s wider-field exposures taken with Oculus All Sky Camera

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 Videos

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Magnetometer Stack Plots (for reference)

Magnetometer Stack Plots from Scandinavia (ordered by latitude) H Component - 2025-03-17 / 2025-03-18 Strong spikes in activity at 19:45, 00:00 & 02:00-03:00 Note: Geomagnetometer activity at rvk (Rorvik, 64.95N), dob (Dombas, 62.07N), sol (Solund, 61.08N) and kar (Karmoy, 59.21N) stations are used as indicators for potential auroral activity that may be visible from my Observatory situated at latitude 57.32N  (Map of Stations)

Graphed using 'make your own graph' facilities at  https://flux.phys.uit.no/compose/   (Tromsø Geophysical Observatory  ) Original data from Tromsø Geophysical Observatory (TGO), DTU Space (Technical University of Denmark) and Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) Data also displayed on SpaceWeatherLive's Europe Stackplot at  http://www.spaceweatherlive.com/en/auroral-activity/magnetometers).

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Planetary K-Index Plot (for reference)

Estimated 3 hour Planetary K-Index (NOAA)  (from http://services.swpc.noaa.gov) Planetary-k-index_2025-03-19 / 2025-03-20 Not captured

SAMNET's magnetometer at Sumburgh, Shetland  (Chart Explanation)  - Sharp peak in activity on the night 2025-03-19 at 20:00 to 21:00 and then quiet for remainder of night

8-day Lerwick Observatory K Index Showing max K5 on the evening of 2025-03-19 / 2025-03-20

Planetary K-Index and other information (Space Weather Prediction Centre) shows Kp3 on night of 2025-03-19 / 2025-03-20

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Aurora Forecast, NOAA/Ovation (for reference)

Aurora Forecast for 2025-03-19 20:46 UT (GMT) (Prediction made at 19:55 UT) (From Space Weather Prediction Centre,  http://www.swpc.noaa.gov )

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