Aurora alert for night of October 13, 2012

Aurora alert for night of October 13, 2012

October 13, 2012 aurora via Colin Chatfield

Geomagnetic storm that spawned auroras in early morning hours today is still underway. Auroras or northern lights likely for those at northerly latitudes tonight!

Early this morning – October 13, 2012 – a flurry of aurora photos appeared on the EarthSky Facebook page from friends at northerly latitudes. A geomagnetic storm had began, which is still underway. There are bright auroras appearing around the Arctic Circle, and in Scandinavia, Greenland, Canada, and several northern states in the U.S., according to the website spaceweather.com, which also said:

NOAA forecasters estimate a 40% chance of continued storms on October 14-15 in response to a high-speed stream of solar wind.

If you live at a northerly latitude, watch for auroras tonight!

EarthSky Facebook friend Colin Chatfield in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada took this photo of the aurora in the early morning hours of October 13, 2012. More images from Colin here.

Our friend Colin Chatfield, who captured the image of this morning’s aurora, said:

This is from my backyard around 5 a.m. this morning (October 13, 2012) in Saskatoon, SK, Canada. Never have I seen the aurora so bright, especially from within the city. They were astounding, with purple visible to the naked eye. Taken with a Canon 7D and Tokina 10-17mm f/3.5 fisheye at 10mm, ISO 800, 20 sec exp, f/3.5

Aurora of October 13, 2012 from our friend Joe Joe Prince in Bethal, Alaska.

Aurora of October 13, 2012 from our friend Ed Nephler in Bliss, Michigan.

Aurora of October 13, 2012 from our friend Steven Benbo in northern Minnesota.

Bottom line: The geomagnetic storm that produced dazzling auroras at northerly latitudes on the morning of October 13, 2012 is still going on. Expect auroras tonight as well, seen from northern parts of the globe.