Has the aurora borealis ever visited BM?

[Sunbeam56]

Real question - I have never personally experienced the aurora borealis.
Has anyone seen it during Burning Man?

[GreyCoyote]

March 1, 2001 had a classic aurora display as far south as San Francisco, and it was clearly visible from Reno. This resulted from a rare X-class coronal mass ejection that happened to be aimed in exactly the right direction. Essentially a perfect storm, and a rare combination of events.

I think you can forget about seeing it at BM. The light pollution is substantial and grows with every year. You cant get far enough away from the city to dim it sufficiently anymore. You really want a higher latitude and less ambient light because low-latitude displays will be very faint. And you would need one big and well-timed CME to drive it that far south.

www.spaceweather.com has a real time aurora display if you want to see what your odds are.

[trilobyte]

I have no doubts it has on occasion been visible from the playa, but there has never been a display visible during the event.

[Sham]

The most spectacular event I have seen was in 2007 when we had a full, bright harvest moon, that went to a full lunar eclipse.

[ygmir]

as an aurora-phile, you've gotten good answes. It's possible, but not probable.
an aurora at these low latitudes happens maybe once per year, and usually nothing more than a red sky, with minor movement.
Every once in a while the sun will spit at us enough to make it "real" this low, but you're talking decades.
That does not mean a errant "blast" can't happen, but, not much chance, nor chance of seeing it due to light pollution out there.

[BBadger]

Sounds like a great porn star name.

[BoyScoutGirl]

Current "Aurora Oval" for the northern USA, from http://www.spaceweather.com. They have such projections for USA, Europe, New Zealand, and Antarctica.



I've always wanted to see an aurora, so this is nifty! Thanks for the link, GreyCoyote.

[fernley1]

I loved seeing the northern lights when I was stationed up near Fairbanks, Alaska in the early 90's.
Made the cold winters almost worth it.

[Ugly Dougly]

Wasn't that the theme in 1998?

[Ugly Dougly]

It would cost a lot of money to arrange a visit.

[Thecatman]

I would love to see it, but I'm usually sawin logs when they occur.
I thought they are more prominent in spring and fall as opposed to the middle of summer.

[burner von braun]

My understanding is that frequency is based solely on solar activity at any given time. The reason you see them more in the winter is because the nights are longer, especially if you are located near the poles, which as it turns out, is also where the effects originate and are most prominent. Perhaps there are other factors, tilt of the earth toward the sun, etc, that increase likelihood?

[Frozen_Catalyst]

My understanding is that frequency is based solely on solar activity at any given time. The reason you see them more in the winter is because the nights are longer, especially if you are located near the poles, which as it turns out, is also where the effects originate and are most prominent. Perhaps there are other factors, tilt of the earth toward the sun, etc, that increase likelihood?

yeah it has alot to do with the orientation of the earth to the sun , its awsome here spring and fall and can be seen throughtout the winter but its alittle less common ( like 2-4 times a month)