Sunny Sunday

ARCTIC AURORA SEASON BEGINS: They’re back. Auroras are reappearing around the Arctic Circle as the Midnight Sun finally dims. “After nearly five months of intense sunlight, the sky above Sweden’s Abisko National Park has darkened and Northern Lights have returned,” reports Chad Blakley, whose automated webcam captured these auroras just after midnight on August 24th:

“Our first auroras of the season appeared at 12:47 AM and hovered in the sky until 1:12 AM,” he says. “The green bands were strong enough to penetrate the twilight that we are still getting from the Midnight Sun. Autumn is just around the corner and, from here on out, every night is going to be better. You can watch the show live all season long on our Lights over Lapland webcam.”

In Oulu, Finland, Thomas Kast saw a similar display. “The auroras are still struggling with twilight, but surely it is getting darker just a little bit every day. It’s good to have the auroras back!”

These developments set the stage for a good show only a few nights from now. On Aug. 27th and 28th a solar wind stream traveling ~500 km/s will hit Earth’s magnetic field, possibly sparking a G1-class geomagnetic storm. Stay tuned for auroras mixed with Arctic twilight. Aurora alerts: SMS Text.

@ SPACEWEATHER