Observation by Honor Wheeler: SAR arc and Orion

Uploaded by

Honor Wheeler

Observer

Honor Wheeler

Observed

2024 Oct 11 - 02:01

Uploaded

2024 Oct 12 - 13:19

Equipment

Canon M6II
Samyang 8mm f/2.8 M fish-eye

Exposure

ISO640, f/2.8, exp10"

Location

North Kent

Target name

SAR arc

Title

SAR arc and Orion

About this image

Taken from a local vantage point where looking North puts the the London light pollution & the Dartford bridge on the horizon, I decided to point my camera South towards the end of the Auroral display on the 11th. Having contacted Sandra, head of the Aurora and NLC section, it seems this is not aurora but instead a SAR arc or Stable Auroral Red arc. Online sources explain "SAR arcs are caused by heat conduction from the ring current into the ionosphere. The ring current is a donut-shaped circuit of millions of amps that surrounds Earth and plays a role in geomagnetic storms." It was amazing enough to observe Aurora from North Kent but added amazement to find out about another little known phenomena associated with the energy from the sun interacting with the Earth's atmosphere.

Files associated with this observation

AuroraOrion_20241011_0201UT_HW4743-01.jpeg (1.4 MB)

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Dominic Ford, Jimmy Fraser, Callum Potter, Brendan Tynan

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