kins Posted February 16, 2014 Author Share Posted February 16, 2014 Seems like a coronal hole is appearing on the eastern limb of the sun... in 6/7 days facing the earth, so in about 10/11 days some nice auroras? My first day up there will be 27th so... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kins Posted February 22, 2014 Author Share Posted February 22, 2014 Nice trans equatorial coronal hole about to reach the centre of the visible side of the sun Timing looks promising for my first night back in Lapland on 27/2! Weather forecast on the other hand is awful. Obviously it's still too early to have some reliable forecast, but the tendency is really bad... let's hope I manage (again) to find the openings! I have 3 friends from France and Switzerland under my responsibility for a week... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Touwen Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 Hope you have a lot of fun there, stay tuned and inform the low lands. Don't forget to post some nice pictures. I will go up there also again at the 28th of this month, not in Lapland but around Tromso, staying there with friends from our earlyer holydays and for business. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kins Posted February 26, 2014 Author Share Posted February 26, 2014 I'm afraid there won't be many pictures to post in the next 10 days or so... although 10 days weather forecasts are obviously not reliable, the tendancy still gives a good idea of what to expect: clouds above entire northern Scandinavia... Of course I'll do my best as always, I'll drive as far as needed, but it looks like it is going to be extremely difficult this time. And to be honest when it's that bad, it's not even fun anymore... Anyway, let's hope the weather won't be bad for an entire 3 weeks! Leaving tonight to Helsinki, facing north above the Baltic Sea around 10-11pm, who knows what we will see... well, what the pilot will see... I'll try to convince them to let me in the cockpit if any northern lights, keep you posted Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vincent van Leijen Posted February 26, 2014 Share Posted February 26, 2014 I can feel what you mean. I just returned from a week Finland and we had total cloud cover. Yet emperatures are mild and not a crazy -30 deg C. You know where to find sat imagery: http://en.ilmatieteenlaitos.fi/clouds-nordic-countries Best of Luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kins Posted February 27, 2014 Author Share Posted February 27, 2014 So no luck in the plane and the activity was too low anyway. Trying my chance tonight very far up Norway to catch the storm but so little chance because clouds everywhere. Bad weather is due to cold polar air that cannot go down because of the jet stream, leading to all low pressure storms coming from the Atlantic ocean all the way to northern Scandinavia with lots of clouds :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcel de Bont Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 It's been disastrous weather for 3 months in northern Scandinavia. Clouds everywhere. Also know someone in the Lofoten now and it's also clouded there at the moment. Too bad because the X4.9 CME just arrived. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kins Posted February 28, 2014 Author Share Posted February 28, 2014 Hey Marcel (and everyone!) I got half lucky yesterday. Against all odds (and against ALL weather forecasts), I found a clear spot in the sky in which we could see for about 2 hours several coronas. The problem was, I think, that the activity was so strong, that standing further than 70°N was actually too north! (you'll rarely hear an aurora hunter complain of being too far north!) All the good stuff was happening in the south behind clouds, or right on top of our heads with some coronas. Also there was constantly a thin layer of clouds preventing from a really astonishing view (for the "experienced" hunter as myself). Nevertheless, my 3 friends who are staying with me for a week were delighted!!! Here's a link to the album on my FB page: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.835015876525011.1073741871.455460984480504&type=1&l=e630d25fc3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vincent van Leijen Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 Not bad at all, this corona is a topper! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcel de Bont Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 Well done! The images are amazing. Shared them on our FB pages. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kins Posted February 28, 2014 Author Share Posted February 28, 2014 And back again! Much, much lower activity "on paper", but in the sky, WOW! One of my best displays since I've been coming here, and the numbers (IMF, etc) were not showing this. Can't find the link to the new album on Facebook...... Here's a pic! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vincent van Leijen Posted March 1, 2014 Share Posted March 1, 2014 WOW indeed! Notice Orion and a bright Jupiter. This smoky aurora went right overhead I think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kins Posted March 1, 2014 Author Share Posted March 1, 2014 Thank you! Yes indeed, right over head last night. As I said, it was better on the 29th with low Kp than on the 28th with the G2 storm. Really strange and although we were very north (on the 28th), I still cannot believe that it was too north to see nice auroras. The only "good" thing on the 28th with the G2 storm was that there were lots of coronas (although not very bright) and that the photos showed a lot of purple (which was not visible to the naked eye, and the kind of purple that the camera does not catch with lesser auroras). Tonight too bad weather, went out a bit but nothing. Better luck tomorrow! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcel de Bont Posted March 1, 2014 Share Posted March 1, 2014 I might be very wrong on this but my experience with major storms and observing them from high latitudes is that there there is like a main oval which expands all the way south (during the G2 storm it was above south Sweden/Scotland) and the high latitudes like where you were more see isolated patches of activity like indeed coronas and not that familiar arc that stretches from horizon to horizon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kins Posted March 1, 2014 Author Share Posted March 1, 2014 I guess that you could be right indeed. I don't have much experience with such storms (that was my first one) but that's clearly the feeling that I had. By the way, already at 6:30pm we could see some auroras behind the clouds, and they were already SOUTH. Never saw before an aurora start at the south. Never ever! Damn tonight the activity looks to have picked up again, but the cloud cover is everywhere, there's no way at all to get anything. Hopefully tomorrow better! My 3 friends who came for the week had their first auroras for their first 2 nights so I'm relieved. Next Thursday they leave and another friend comes for 5 days, let's hope I can also show him! Keep you posted Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kins Posted March 5, 2014 Author Share Posted March 5, 2014 What a night in Inari, Finnish Lapland!!! The entire day we had sun (first time in this first week up there), and the sky stayed clear until now (3AM), also first time this week that I am here!!! Temperatures dropped to a solid -20°C, first time that it gets colder than -5 in this and the previous trip in January!! And for a reason that I do not understand, the aurora activity was really nice and strong. A sign actually that you really just need a small spark at such latitudes to create such a wonderful show Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tkslange Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 Great shots kins! I'm in Trondheim this week and hoping for some action like last Thursday, but it seems I won't be that lucky and it's also going to be cloudy for the comming days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vincent van Leijen Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 Now that's plain magical! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kins Posted March 5, 2014 Author Share Posted March 5, 2014 Thanks guys! It was one of the best nights up there since I have been going! And I really don't know what triggered such activity. Gives a lot to hope for when the wind stream from those 2 coronal holes will reach us in a couple of days (providing we find good weather - tonight staying in because way too bad: yesterday was clear with -21°C, tonight is raining and +2°C.......) So I had time to make a pretty nice timelapse of last night's activity (only the beginning of the night, then these bright and fast moving auroras didn't last long enough to be captured properly in a timelapse) Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kins Posted March 7, 2014 Author Share Posted March 7, 2014 Last night was quiet (or at least it was at 2am when the sky finally opened). Nevertheless the sky was super beautiful, see for yourselves: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Touwen Posted March 8, 2014 Share Posted March 8, 2014 I have also one of the 4th of march Kins, this one has taken in Furoy Norway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Touwen Posted March 8, 2014 Share Posted March 8, 2014 Here my timelaps from the 4th of march. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcel de Bont Posted March 8, 2014 Share Posted March 8, 2014 Ed en Kins, wat een geweldige foto's en video's. Proficiat! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kins Posted March 9, 2014 Author Share Posted March 9, 2014 Thanks! Yesterday night was rather quiet but with a few minutes of higher intensity, clear movements and pillars also to the naked eye. I missed the most active moments on the photos, as just at that moment I was more busy trying to scare of some foxes that were becoming a little bit too interested in me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Touwen Posted March 9, 2014 Share Posted March 9, 2014 nice shot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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