Newsletter chitchat - May 14, 2024

[Cassel]

Although the Northern Lights have been a big event last weekend, it might happen again in the near future.

Did you see them?

Have you ever seen them in the past? Do you have pictures?

Let's chat.

If you are interested, here is a link to the NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION. It offers the forecasts for auroras.

There is also this app: Aurora that I downloaded on my phone. It shows many days ahead, if there are chances of Northern lights in your area. A cool little app (I only have the free version).

[Lyn Lou]

Friday morning I was aware of it, as it had been mentioned on the morning news and I was very keen to get to pictures, it is something I have always wished I could see. Friday was a busy day and by the end of the evening I had forgotten about it 😞 The next morning my son posted his photos from the night before!  I was gutted that I had forgotten about it! 
Then I heard that there was another opportunity for that Saturday, so I was determined not to forget this one. We had a pre-planned day for Saturday, as it was the Euro-vision that day and each year we get together with family and become home judges for the competition. Before the show, there were two new Dr Who shows being broadcast and my hubby and son are big fans of the program, so we we arrived at their house at 5pm had an early dinner together and then watched the programs.
The Eurovision usually finishes around midnight which was good timing for us as we travelled back home looking for an unpolluted place to park up. Unfortunately, there were not many places, and even less parking spaces. we continued to drive around trying to find somewhere, but no luck, so we drove home and as we got home and parked on our drive, I looked up at the night sky, and all I could see were stars and dark skies, but no signs of the Northern lights 😞 
I decided to stay up a bit longer and check again a bit later, but fell asleep in the chair and woke up at 3.30am. I looked outside briefly and could not see anything so went to bed 😞 Got up late the next day still tired.
I heard on the news that there maybe more opportunities over the coming months, so hoping to be able to get another chance and will find a better place for viewing. Lots of others in the UK were able to see it and take photos, some further south than we are. 
 

Edited May 15 by Lyn Lou

[Clarine]

I live an hour west of Minneapolis and had good luck finding the Northern Lights about 5 miles out of the town I live in.  Looking the sky over, disappointingly, all we  saw were white streaks from the horizon to straight over our heads.   No color at all, just white streaks.  I set up my dslr camera on a tripod and took a few photos anyway, and to my surprise when I looked at the LCD screen on the back of the camera the colors were there.  Of course I took many photos over the 2 hours we watched.  (midnight to 2:00.a.m.)  This was the first time I have seen the Northern Lights and hope to again to perfect the pics I take next time.  I will admit I did some photo editing as the photos were very grainy.   I will try different settings on my camera next time.   

[Bonnie Ballentine]

We have had rain and clouds for most of 2 weeks. I would love to see the Northern Lights but with rain and clouds and the fact I live too far south for this event...I guess I'll have to wait until another time. 

[Jeni Simpson]

7 hours ago, Bonnie Ballentine said:

We have had rain and clouds for most of 2 weeks. I would love to see the Northern Lights but with rain and clouds and the fact I live too far south for this event...I guess I'll have to wait until another time. 

We have had similar weather in the south of New Zealand, coming up to winter here, so we haven't seen the lights this time. We do, however, enjoy them regularly during the season when everything is right for viewing. I belong to the Southern Hemisphere Aurora Facebook group and some in Australia have enjoyed great viewing. Hopefully, you manage another time, Bonnie, the lights are well worth seeing.