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Wonderful display happening in the last half hour. Big arch of light from east to west with fast moving curtains travelling along it. This seen from near Norwich, Norfolk.
The display seems to have subsided now (20:00 UT) but I just wanted to jot down what I saw whilst it is fresh in my memory. I am in a semi rural location near the Norfolk Broads. Probably about 18:35 I went outside to look at the sky and there was an arc of milky light running almost due east to due west which I thought at first was cloud. I went to grab my camera and the first image I took was at about 18:42. This showed it was definitely an aurora. The arc ran through Perseus in the east, then probably up to 70 degrees above the northern horizon then down to the west. It was quite well defined. Above it in the east near the horizon was a red glow that showed up well in an image. What was really interesting was that as the arc strengthened in intensity curtains of light travelled along the arc from east to west. I was surprised at how quickly they were travelling. I would say that they covered about 15 degrees of arc in a few seconds.
This is only the second big display I have ever seen so my technical knowledge of how to describe it is poor. The arc dissipated about 18:45 and then returned again to the same strength. I took photos until about 19:10. A bit after that I could see some reddish glow due north (my dinner was ready so I had to go in!). Pictures to follow.
I turned over in bed this morning and was surprised to be woken by John Mason – on Radio 4 Today, at about 8:50 am. You can probably listen again on the iPlayer / BBC Sounds thing.
Callum
My latest post has disappeared again due to over editing!! What a nuisance. What I said was that thanks to Grant I think this white arc was a STEVE. I made the point that the red glow in the east to the right of the arc was mirrored in the west by a similar red glow (an aurora?). Also I have calculated that the arc reached a maximum of 60 degrees altitude due north rather than 70 degrees. Further, I would be interested to know if anyone else has seen the fast moving “curtains” travelling along the arc from east to west. They can be best described as bands which were perpendicular to the direction of the arc.
This article gives some explanation of what a STEVE is https://www.livescience.com/mysterious-aurora-like-phenomenon-steve-appears-during-strongest-solar-storm-for-more-than-half-a-decade.
I also saw the white arc from North Wales roughly between 1845-1900 which I assume was Steve, reaching to an estimated 60 degrees altitude. I noticed some fine perpendicular banding to it, coming and going but not really fast moving ‘curtains’. No photos unfortunately.
I am slightly at a loss to understand why there hasn’t been much comment on here from the Aurora section about what we saw on Sunday night. From what I have read STEVEs are a relatively new phenomenon which haven’t been well observed and aren’t well understood. I have seen people say that they are difficult to see, but this one wasn’t. It was as clear as a bell and wasn’t limited to either the east or west horizon. It went in a clear arc from the eastern horizon to the western horizon in a continuous band. What is more, each termination at the horizon was associated with a red display of auroral (?) light both east and west. Added to this it appeared to flow from east to west (and never the reverse) with bands moving along its arc. I was surprised that my pictures on the gallery seemed to generate little interest. I uploaded them pretty much as they came out of the camera so the scientific value of them wouldn’t be lost by making alterations.
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