Conversation:

Last night as I was drifting off, that old song 'Northern Lights' by Renaissance http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvFPlWh1yQY drifted across my consciousness, out of nowhere, and stopped me getting to sleep for a short while. And this morning I stumbled across one of the best pictures of the Aurora Borealis I think I've ever seen http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=BjAcrn-JAcrgensen-s_1201_4987_1327280066.jpg

I've seen pictures and videos with shimmering curtains of green and red, but I don't recall seeing a splash of light like the one in that first image. Stunning.

Man, I used to fancy Annie Haslam something rotten

>>A lot o' people don't realize what's really going on. They view life as a bunch o' unconnected incidents 'n things. They don't realize that there's this, like, lattice o' coincidence that lays on top o' everything. Give you an example; show you what I mean: suppose you're thinkin' about a plate o' shrimp. Suddenly someone'll say, like, plate, or shrimp, or plate o' shrimp out of the blue, no explanation. No point in lookin' for one, either. It's all part of a cosmic unconciousness.<<

-from Repo Man(1984)

Heh, more synchronicity: Phil Plait tweeted this link last night. http://www.auroraskystation.com/live-camera/9/

Hey, I think I know what brought on this case of synchronicity.

It's a combination of the recent solar storms and the fact that one of the front page articles mentions the Baader Meinhof Gang.

http://www.damninteresting.com/the-baader-meinhof-phenomenon/

I know so many people who believe that everything happens for a reason. Yes, yes it does. Coincidence.

Be on the lookout for aurorae tonight. (I'll be looking on the web obviously, I don't think they'll reach down to our latitudes.)

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2012/01/24/the-sun-aims-a-storm-right-at-earth-expect-aurorae-tonight/

I've been reading about that this morning. I think they said it'd be visible in plenty of northern states. And George Noory was talking about it on Coast to Coast last night, reading all kinds of scare stories into it of course

Some nice pictures from the UK here http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16685364

You can already see it at http://www.auroraskystation.com/live-camera/9/

BTW: Green aurorae are caused by electrons recombining with oxygen atoms.

Do you know what makes the red ones (which I believe are far more rare) happen?

Both blue and red are created by nitrogen. Blue when it regains an electron after becoming ionized, and red when it returns to a ground state after being in an excited state.

Here are some more aurorae cams:

Tromsø, Norway: http://www.virtualtromso.no/en/northern-lights/138-live-northern-lights-activity-and-forecast.html
Lapland: http://uk.jokkmokk.jp
Fairbanks, Alaska: http://salmon.nict.go.jp/awc/live/index_n_e.php
Yellowknife, Canada: http://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/astronomy/auroramax/connect.asp

The Canadian and Alaskan webcams will be better after sunsets locally, obviously.

I think I saw the teeniest smidgin of Aurora this evening, but I'm in a bad spot for it. There's too much light and land in the way. Some of the pics I saw from the north coast were really , though.