MnAstro Forums

Impromtu Aurora Chase II

The weather and the big magnetic storms of the last few hours are making me want to take a road trip. Sure they will likely fade; but who knows? I think I will head only short distance east and south from Woodbury to darker skies. I have no particular place in mind although I will likely not travel more than 30 miles. Those on the far North side have a lot of options! Try http://darksitefinder.com and find something suitable. Please report what you see.

I hope you have some luck. I just looked at the IR weather loop and it looks like lots of clouds streaming in from the NW.

The Clouds were there. No obvious aurora. QQ and Highway 10 In Wisconsin. Green on the 8 color light pollution map.

My wife and I drove 75 miles north from St. Paul on 35 late last night. We stopped at Snake River Campground around 2am and had a nice view of the northern sky. The road in was closed but we parked and walked in. There were also some good places to pull over along highway 70.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Snake ... 71d8590b08

The sky was pretty clear but some haze made an obvious glow around the stars. We saw what appeared at first to be a gray light pollution dome or a glowing cloud to the north.
We assumed it was cloud cover being lit by the next city. Kept thinking that it was getting dimmer and then brighter.

After about an hour we saw obvious streaks and green curtaining. My first aurora! Really cool and totally worth the trip. The glow was quite large, covering maybe half of the northern horizon. Larger than the Twin Cities light dome to the south and not quite as bright.

A gas station attendant on the way back said she had seen a pink cloud earlier in the evening -- told her it was probably the aurora. I suspect we missed the most energetic part (before midnight according to NOAA space weather forecast) but still had a great time.

Hope others also saw something!

I was just north of Hinkley at 10 to 10:30 or so and saw nothing. There were high thin clouds to the north but not enough to screen any aurora.

On St. Pat's night I drove from my home in W. St. Paul to 5 miles east of Prescott, WI. Pulled off on a dirt road, no traffic, and there they were! Nice display to the north. Quite intense from 8:30 to 9:30. Got some OK pics with 20 sec. exp. and camera resting on the hood of my van! Will try to post later. First I've seen in years. Great to see the Aurora again...

Would love to see the photos please post if you get a chance.