Auroral activity, 2016 Oct 20–Dec 25

2017 January 22

Sandra Brantingham

With no coronal mass ejections and sunspot numbers only just in double figures or at zero, all the aurora sightings are now coming from coronal holes. The Sun did create a huge coronal hole in July and that seems to have become a standard feature supplying us with aurorae about every 4 weeks, but without the massive power of a CME, they are rarely seen south of Scotland.

The first impact started on Oct 24/25 with sightings by Denis Buczynski from Tarbatness, Gordon Mackie in Thurso, James Mackintosh in Cromarty and Alan Tough from Elgin in Moray. Oct 26/27 had sightings by James Fraser in Tarbatness, James Mackintosh in Cromarty, Alan Tough in Elgin and Andy Heenan in Dundee. I managed to see it on Oct 28/29 from the Moray Firth along with Alan Tough, also Gordon Mackie in Thurso and James Fraser and Denis Buczynski, both in Tarbatness.

A weak display on Nov 3/4 was picked up by Denis Buczynski from Tarbatness while another weak display was seen by Alan Tough in Elgin on Nov 10/11. The next big event started with a sighting in Thurso by Gordon Mackie on Nov 23/24. Nov 24/25 saw sightings by myself from the Moray coast along with Alan Tough, also Gordon Mackie in Thurso and James Fraser and Denis Buczynski, both in Tarbatness.

A weak display on Dec 7/8 was seen by Denis Buczynski in Tarbatness and Alan Tough from Hopeman, Moray. The last pre-Christmas show was a two day event, with no reindeer or Santa, on Dec 21/22 with sightings from myself on the Moray coast, Gordon Mackie in Thurso and Denis Buczynski in Tarbatness, and Dec 22/23 which was seen by myself from the Moray coast & Denis Buczynski from Tarbatness.

For those of you who are stuck in light polluted areas or out of range of the aurora, here is a webcam operated by the Shetland tourist board: http://www.shetland.org/60n/webcams/cliff-cam-3. The camera looks north and, if there is no cloud, it will give a good view of any aurora or NLC (and you can listen to the waves & sea birds). However, the sound of the waves has been a little loud in the recent gales.

Sandra Brantingham, Director, Aurora & NLC Section