David's Astronomy Pages (All Sky Camera) Aurora on night 2025-04-01 / 2025-04-02

Aurora 2025-03-25

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Aurora 2025-04-02

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 on the night 2025-04-01 / 2025-04-02 associated with period of geomagnetic activity up to ~KP3 Skies in NE Scotland were generally clear all-night. Activity was visible on camera images in early hours of 2025-04-02 from around 00:30-04:00 UT (01:30 - 05:00 LT), with peak at 00:30-01:20 UT (01:30 - 02:20 LT) Observed activity comprised green aurora arc & curtains with occasional red & violet aurora, with rays up to 15-18° altitude.  Aurora arc splitting into two bands for a while (lower band up to 5° altitude, upper band up to 8° altitude). Some aurora were visible along the northern horizon in the evening (pre-midnight) but were very faint & low to the horizon. 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.   -  Scandinavian magnetometers recorded activity between 00:30 - 05:30 UT, with peaks in activity at 00:30 to 02:30 UT Lerwick Magnetometer shows activity up to K3.     - Telescope Images from 2025-04-01 >> -

Night Summary (Keogram) Plot

Night Summary Plot - North Sky (2025-04-01 / 2025-04-02) Times on plot are local times (GMT  = UTC +00h ) Aurora Activity visible on colour keogram at 21:30- 00:00 BST (20:30-23:00 UT, v.weak), 00:45 - 01:05 BST (23:45-00:05 UT), 01:30 - 05:00 BST (00:30-04:00 UT) with peak at 01:30 - 02:20 BST (00:30-01:20 UT)

Night Summary Plot - North Sky (2025-04-01 / 2025-04-02) Times on plot are local times (GMT  = UTC +00h ) Aurora visible on b/w keogram at  01:30 - 05:00 BST (00:30-04:00 UT) with peak at 02:05 - 02:15 BST (01:05-02:15 UT)

Scandinavia Magnetometers vs NorthCam Keogram - 2025-04-01 / 2025-04-02

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Pictures (AllSky Camera)

Panoramic View - Northern Sky

2025-04-01 21:04 UT (2025-04-01 22:03 LT) Faint aurora activity close to northern horizon.

2025-04-01 22:06 UT (2025-04-01 23:06 LT) Continuing faint aurora activity. Green auroral glow in N direction

2025-04-01 23:48 UT (2025-04-02 00:48 LT) Appearance of green aurora, partly hidden by cloud Light pollution from nearby town in NNW direction.  Moon (18% phase, 3° altitude) setting in NW direction

2025-04-02 00:27 UT (01:27 LT) Green auroral arc with faint rays. Moon has not set.

2025-04-02 00:29 UT (01:29 LT) Auoral curtains developing

2025-04-02 00:30 UT (01:30 LT) Bright crimson & red aurora rays, rapidly changing.

2025-04-02 00:34 UT (01:34 LT)  Bright red auroral ray developing in NNW sky to 15° altitude.  Faint red/green aurora in N & NNW side direction to 8° altitude

2025-04-02 00:41 UT (01:41 LT)  Continuing auroral activity.  Green auroral arc in N direction, capped by red/crimson aurora to 12° altitude

2025-04-02 00:58 UT (01:58 LT) Green auroral arc to 8° altitude..

2025-04-02 00:59 UT (01:59 LT) Auroral arc brightening . Red aurora in NNW sky with rays up to 15-18° altitude)

2025-04-02 01:00 UT (02:00 LT) Red curtains in NNW to N Sky .Green auroral arc continuing

2025-04-02 01:13 UT (02:13 LT) Auroral activity continuing

2025-04-02 01:19 UT (02:19 LT)  Auroral activity continuing. Green aurora with minor red/violet aurora in NNE direction

2025-04-02 01:39 UT (02:39 LT)  Continuing activity, with rapid changes in ray position & intensity

2025-04-02 01:59 UT (02:59 LT)  Predominantly green aurora with occasion violet coloured ray.

2025-04-02 02:23 UT (03:23 LT)  Green aurora divided into two bands in NNW to NNE direction (lower band to 5° altitude, upper band to 7.5° altitude)

2025-04-02 03:19 UT (04:18 LT)  Aurora activity continuing. Earlier bands have merged into a single diffuse arc

2025-04-02 03:51 UT (04:51 LT)  Twiglight developing. Aurora activity gradually weakening but still present.

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 - 2025-04-01 / 2025-04-02 Activity between 00:30 - 05:30 UT, with peaks in activity at 00:30 to 02:30 UT 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_2025-04-01 / 2025-04-02 Not captured

SAMNET's magnetometer at Sumburgh, Shetland  (Chart Explanation)  - Geomagnetic activity on the night 2025-04-01 / 2025-04-02 Plot shows peak activity at 01:00 - 02:00 UT.

8-day Lerwick Observatory K Index Showing max K3 on the night 2025-04-01 / 2025-04-02

Planetary K-Index and other information (Space Weather Prediction Centre) shows Kp4 on the morning of 2025-04-02, proceeded by a solar proton S1/S2 storm over the preceeding 32 hours

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Aurora Forecast, NOAA/Ovation (for reference)

Aurora Forecast for 2025-04-02 01:53 UT (GMT) (From Space Weather Prediction Centre,  http://www.swpc.noaa.gov )

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