March 30, 2001

10:59 PM

Aurora Borealis... in Santa Fe, NM i'm up late writing a paper and chanced to look out the window, only to see red gaseous-looking clouds in the sky... I know it seems absurd to see the northern lights in the southwest, but this map almost makes it appear possible, probably because of the altitude... if i see four horsemen though, i'm running like hell.
posted by clockwork (12 comments total)

From MSNBC (because it was quick and easy):

"The sunspot group and its resulting solar flare and eruptions developed Wednesday and early Thursday morning. Traveling at speeds in excess of a million miles (1.6 million kilometers) per hour and traversing the 93 million miles (149.7 million kilometers) from the sun to Earth, the energy could reach our planet as soon as late Friday."
posted by netbros at 11:29 PM on March 30, 2001

Also, BBC.
posted by Mo Nickels at 4:14 AM on March 31, 2001

And APOD, too.
posted by Aaaugh! at 6:39 AM on March 31, 2001

Sorry, off-topic:

Cool points to anyone who can name what this quote is from: "Aurora Borealis; shinin' down in Dallas; can ya picture that."
posted by crushed at 7:31 AM on March 31, 2001

Crushed: "Can You Picture That?" (From the muppet movie). Where do I collect my points?
posted by frednorman at 8:08 AM on March 31, 2001

I was out last night and saw them too... amazing. What I wouldn't give to have been in Rejkyavik last night.

Absolutely gorgeous.
posted by silusGROK at 9:31 AM on March 31, 2001

fred, you rock. I'm sending the points to you now, telepathically. =D
posted by crushed at 9:47 AM on March 31, 2001

I wonder if anyone who was up north took pictures?
posted by SpecialK at 10:10 AM on March 31, 2001

Space Weather has galleries here and here. I wish I'd been looking last night--I heard Flagstaff had color, I'm 60 miles south of there.
posted by aflakete at 10:57 AM on March 31, 2001

for god's sake, the first weekend i leave albuquerque in weeks and i miss a light show in the sky.

this seems to be the story of my life.
posted by sugarfish at 11:34 AM on March 31, 2001

Yea, I saw them last night, too ... in the San Francisco Bay Area ... I used to live in British Columbia, Canada, so I knew what to look for, but I never expected so them this far down south.
posted by poorhouse at 12:58 PM on March 31, 2001