11 minutes ago, DavidS said:

Seems like we may have! I did get another substorm 3+ hours later after waiting and waiting with those high power numbers but while it had similar colors it was much fainter

So did I. I waited till 2am my time and there was a substorm but mostly greens exploding higher in the sky. The aurora Gods apparently ran out of red paint. It has its own charm to have just the greens but these green storms look much better further north.

I saw your images. Nice job developing them! Funny how they are sticking out of the mountains. Where did you shoot from? Uinta mnts?

3 hours ago, Cations said:

I'm putting a camera on the porch. Doesn't cost me anything to do. I think someone said moon set is around 1am

You can check the times for moonrise and -set here (put in another location if that's not right for you)

https://www.timeanddate.com/moon/usa/hartford

2 minutes ago, NightSky said:

You can check the times for moonrise and -set here (put in another location if that's not right for you)

https://www.timeanddate.com/moon/usa/hartford

Somebody should annihilate that celestial body once for all. Good luck. It is storming at Katahdin but rather low.

27 minutes ago, JessicaF said:

Somebody should annihilate that celestial body once for all. Good luck. It is storming at Katahdin but rather low.

@JessicaF We actually have a newer member. @CelestialBuddy agreed on the stupid moon. I would prefer an alternative if I may: Basalt powder. If I haven’t mentioned it before at least three times😊 Edit I guess my patience is being tried by missing the tight 30 minute window we had in western wa where another member @pnw posted an excellent shot despite moon interference. With a new moon it probably would have stung even more! 🤣🤣🤣

Edited Friday at 05:18 AM5 days by hamateur 1953
Reflection on missing brief event

Hi everyone

Lost River State Forest

Latitude 49N

October 2, 2025

143 AM local time or 643Z

Captured at 14mm so this is an enormous view of the sky with the dense star fields of the milky way running along the upper portion. Vega is the brightest star in the red region. As a matter of fact the entirety of Lyra sits in there sideways above the darker clouds for scale.

11 hours ago, JessicaF said:

Somebody should annihilate that celestial body once for all. Good luck. It is storming at Katahdin but rather low.

I kinda like that shiny thing when I'm NOT trying to shoot Auroras or the night sky in general.... :)

11 hours ago, JessicaF said:

So did I. I waited till 2am my time and there was a substorm but mostly greens exploding higher in the sky. The aurora Gods apparently ran out of red paint. It has its own charm to have just the greens but these green storms look much better further north.

I saw your images. Nice job developing them! Funny how they are sticking out of the mountains. Where did you shoot from? Uinta mnts?

Thanks, this was closer to me in the northern Wasatch, at around 6500'. Light pollution and mountains on the horizon made it hard to see the lower greens, although the later substorm did produce a somewhat prominent green band along my entire northern horizon. The Uintas would probably have been better and much darker but didn't have time to drive that far for this one.

12 hours ago, JessicaF said:

Somebody should annihilate that celestial body once for all. Good luck. It is storming at Katahdin but rather low.

12 hours ago, hamateur 1953 said:

@JessicaF We actually have a newer member. @CelestialBuddy agreed on the stupid moon. I would prefer an alternative if I may: Basalt powder. If I haven’t mentioned it before at least three times😊 Edit I guess my patience is being tried by missing the tight 30 minute window we had in western wa where another member @pnw posted an excellent shot despite moon interference. With a new moon it probably would have stung even more! 🤣🤣🤣

1 hour ago, NightSky said:

I kinda like that shiny thing when I'm NOT trying to shoot Auroras or the night sky in general.... :)

I still say we cover it entirely in this.

moved post to spaceweather memes

Edited Friday at 10:24 PM4 days by hamateur 1953
See above

What's happening with the Ace satellite? It's no longer providing solar wind and density data, only BT data, which is downgraded?

@Jesterface23

¿We just suffered a decent impact from CME 20 BT and 5 BZ NORTH?

@hamateur 1953

Edited Friday at 11:30 PM4 days by Isatsuki San

5 minutes ago, Isatsuki San said:

What's happening with the Ace satellite? It's no longer providing solar wind and density data, only BT data, which is downgraded?

@Jesterface23

We forget that this is normal for ACE. We're lucky ACE hasn't had more data gaps since DSCOVR went down.

............

Actually, we are now getting MAG data from DSCOVR. Yay

9 minutes ago, Jesterface23 said:

Olvidamos que esto es normal para ACE . Afortunadamente, ACE no ha tenido más lagunas de datos desde que DSCOVR dejó de funcionar.

So is it normal that sometimes it says 26 bt or things like that?

20 minutes ago, Isatsuki San said:

So is it normal that sometimes it says 26 bt or things like that?

Yes. As @Jesterface23 indicated ACE isn’t always 100% reliable. Periodic spikes in the stream. can be seen in data. Agreed we are fortunate it isn’t worse than it already is.

Edited Saturday at 12:05 AM4 days by hamateur 1953
Grammar

1 hour ago, Isatsuki San said:

What's happening with the Ace satellite? It's no longer providing solar wind and density data, only BT data, which is downgraded?

@Jesterface23

1 hour ago, Jesterface23 said:

We forget that this is normal for ACE. We're lucky ACE hasn't had more data gaps since DSCOVR went down.

1 hour ago, hamateur 1953 said:

Yes. As @Jesterface23 indicated ACE isn’t always 100% reliable. Periodic spikes in the stream. can be seen in data. Agreed we are fortunate it isn’t worse than it already is.

Apropos of that, not sure how many have noticed yet, but they actually managed to stabilize DSCOVR at long last, and it's currently also providing MAG data, but nothing else. Still pretty cool if you ask me!

Better question now is if they'll recover the other DSCOVR data as well before we get SWFO (SOLAR-1) and IMAP into position.

@Philalethes Is there a relation between the Magnetopause … which seems weakening… and the KP index? Anybody else who can comment on it?

1 hour ago, Patrick P.A. Geryl said:

@Philalethes Is there a relation between the Magnetopause … which seems weakening… and the KP index? Anybody else who can comment on it?

The magnetopause is the boundary between the planet's magnetic field and the solar wind.

I don't think it's fair to say the magnetopause can strengthen or weaken. It would be more accurate to say that it can change shape and thickness depending on the pressure exerted on it by the interplanetary medium. And also depending on the strength of the earth's magnetic field, which can weaken or strengthen.

Is there a connection between the state of the magnetopause and the readings of magnetometers on the ground?

A magnetic storm is the magnetosphere's response to a sudden increase in solar wind dynamic pressure. It is disturbed by intense energy release in the magnetosphere and ionosphere and is controlled primarily by the magnitude and direction of the interplanetary magnetic field. The main disturbance of a magnetic storm is a decrease in the geomagnetic field, measured at the Earth's surface and described using the Dst index. Such variations at the Earth's surface are caused by magnetospheric and ionospheric sources of magnetic fields, as well as by currents flowing into the Earth's core, causing external fields to penetrate the Earth's interior.

The depression of the magnetospheric magnetic field at the Earth's surface is determined primarily by the ring current, magnetotail currents, and magnetopause currents.

This is what magnetospheric current systems look like:

1) magnetotail currents (TC),

2) ring current (RC),

3) partial ring current (PRC)

4) magnetopause currents (FAC)

When analyzing a storm, three main phases are distinguished:

1) sudden storm commencement (SSC),

2) main phase,

3) recovery phase.

The sudden onset is associated with the direct impact of accelerated solar wind plasma on the magnetosphere: magnetospheric compression due to increased solar wind dynamic pressure leads to an increase in Chapman-Ferraro currents at the magnetopause. These currents produce a positive variation in the north-south component of the magnetic field in the magnetosphere, which manifests itself as a short-term positive jump in Dst during the sudden storm onset phase. The development of a ring current and the intensification of magnetotail currents lead to a sharp drop in Dst during the main phase, and a reversal of the IMF sign leads to the decay of the ring current and the subsequent restoration of the geomagnetic field to a quiet level.

Currents at the magnetopause react to changes in solar wind parameters almost instantly.

The magnetotail current system includes currents across the magnetotail and closure currents at the magnetopause. It is influenced by both interplanetary medium factors and intramagnetospheric processes, primarily substorms.

The ring current is the most inert part of the magnetosphere. It develops due to the injection of charged particles from the magnetotail and is destroyed by charge exchange with exospheric atoms, Coulomb collisions, and wave processes. The ring current's magnetic field is directed southward in the inner magnetosphere and provides the characteristic large-scale structure of variations in the measured magnetic field during a geomagnetic storm.

Contributions to Dst from magnetopause currents, ring current, and magnetotail currents.

Precise figures are unlikely to be obtained, as they vary from event to event. However, judging by some studies, it can be concluded that, with very weak influences of solar wind streams from a coronal hole or very weak CMEs, the main contribution to magnetic activity on Earth will come from the magnetopause energy. With weak-to-moderate solar wind influences (probably mainly weak-to-moderate CMEs or CH HSS), the magnetotail will be the primary contributor, followed by the magnetopause or ring current. With moderate-to-strong solar wind influences (probably exclusively during CMEs or highly geoeffective solar wind streams from a coronal hole), the energy released from the ring current will be the primary contributor, followed by the magnetotail, and then by a significant margin, the magnetopause. In any case, the magnetopause shows the smallest contribution to the overall mass, but I believe that in some exceptional cases, it can surpass the others.

Here's an example of how scientists modeled the impact of each DST source. The event occurred on June 25-26, 1998.

Green: magnetopause.

Red: ring current.

Blue: magnetotail.

Gray: resulting DST, nT.

I’m definitely going to save that post @Samrau excellent! If for no other reason than it may take me a full day to integrate what I already know with your excellent physical descriptions! Very tired 30 hrs too long to stay awake! 😊

Edited Saturday at 11:30 PM3 days by hamateur 1953
Added stuff. Make to may

Those were three great but exhausting nights! I was out in the field all day just after sunrise, and then out in the field again all night until just before sunrise. Here is something I have wanted to capture for awhile. Auroras over a thunderstorm with a lightning strike. A first for me!

Location Northwest of Warroad, MN

On the 49N

Sept. 30, 2025 at 303 AM local time or 803Z

@The Wild Images - great catch! :)

Last October 10th I had small thunderstorme passing by both to my east and west, so I didn't get a lightning in my "main" aurora time lapse, but I shot towards east with a GoPro for a while to catch the passing storm cloud and I have a SAR on top of the view with the storm underneath with lightning - I have put a time stamp on the clip so you don't need to look for it (starts at 54 sec mark). You can see a little bit of the Auroras as they fire up on the left side of the frame before it shifts to a different view.

https://youtu.be/0TRw8bKaLuQ?si=bxSvnyG8jhqX7uIe&t=54

4 hours ago, The Wild Images said:

Those were three great but exhausting nights! I was out in the field all day just after sunrise, and then out in the field again all night until just before sunrise. Here is something I have wanted to capture for awhile. Auroras over a thunderstorm with a lightning strike. A first for me!

Aurora with lightning is something that I dream about. Great catch!

59 minutes ago, NightSky said:

Last October 10th I had small thunderstorme passing by both to my east and west, so I didn't get a lightning in my "main" aurora time lapse, but I shot towards east with a GoPro for a while to catch the passing storm cloud and I have a SAR on top of the view with the storm underneath with lightning - I have put a time stamp on the clip so you don't need to look for it (starts at 54 sec mark). You can see a little bit of the Auroras as they fire up on the left side of the frame before it shifts to a different view.

https://youtu.be/0TRw8bKaLuQ?si=bxSvnyG8jhqX7uIe&t=54

Love the animation. What a night it was! It was like a bagel with everything.

14 minutes ago, JessicaF said:

Aurora with lightning is something that I dream about. Great catch!

Not exactly lightning right in the middle of aurora, but this bonkers shot someone got early on in this recent stretch of activity was quite something:

I suppose the spikes we now see in the density and IMF is ... bad data? @Jesterface23 @Philalethes However, based on what this person says, spikes do cause brightening and movement in the actual auroral display:

https://spaceweathergallery2.com/indiv_upload.php?upload_id=226475

So, is it bad data or is it real? How can one tell?

2 hours ago, JessicaF said:

I suppose the spikes we now see in the density and IMF is ... bad data? @Jesterface23 @Philalethes However, based on what this person says, spikes do cause brightening and movement in the actual auroral display:

https://spaceweathergallery2.com/indiv_upload.php?upload_id=226475

So, is it bad data or is it real? How can one tell?

It is just a coincidence. Maybe variables became favorable during the period of errored data, but we have no other decent real time data to verify currently.

1 hour ago, JessicaF said:

I suppose the spikes we now see in the density and IMF is ... bad data? @Jesterface23 @Philalethes However, based on what this person says, spikes do cause brightening and movement in the actual auroral display:

https://spaceweathergallery2.com/indiv_upload.php?upload_id=226475

So, is it bad data or is it real? How can one tell?

What we're currently seeing is undoubtedly bad data. It's not always easy to say with complete certainty, and @Jesterface23 probably has more experience determining that, but when you see all the data streams drop out completely near such abnormal values you can be very sure that it's bad data; also when it's vacillating so chaotically rather than having at least some consistency at the values it's supposedly changing to. In this particular case what makes it even more obvious is that MAG itself is clearly failing; we can not only see that from the sporadic equally abnormal values there, but we just got MAG from DSCOVR back and can compare with that, where we don't see any such blips at all.

As for that person, it's going to be very hard to verify if what they're saying stands up to scrutiny or not; people very easily lead themselves to believe in a lot of things simply because they think they've spotted some correlation where there really is none. That being said it's not completely beyond imagining that higher-density wind and resulting stronger compression (holding speed equal) could cause some effects in more unusual cases (like perhaps a massive CME impact right in the middle of a substorm, heh), but I'm extremely skeptical that that is in fact what they're witnessing here.

Is the timestamp data there local time or UTC? From a quick search such timestamps are generally given in local time, so I will assume that for now; this means it would have been taken 10-01T03:26Z, with the corresponding substorm seen here in the Canadian magnetometers at around 03:30Z:

The corresponding solar wind is marked with the red line here (~35 minutes earlier, 0.01 au at ~700 km/s)

Here we can see the purported density spikes they are referring to, but one thing is immediately obvious: given the intermittent dropout of not just the density, but the other values as well, this looks very much like bad data to me; and moreover the lack of anything peculiar in the IMF also would suggest that. They claim each spike led to a repeated "brightening and quickening of the display", but that is to my knowledge (don't have much personal experience there, but judging by the accounts of others, of which I have read quite a lot) something you frequently see as part of regular storm conditions as well, as often reflected in magnetometer readings moving quite a bit up and down during substorms.

So I'm left with two hypotheses here:

1) There was some abnormal wind that had a very odd and suspect signature, and this actually had an effect on the auroral display, like they claim.

2) It was just bad data, and the person in question overactively pattern matched that bad data to fluctuations in the auroral display that you'd generally see anyway.

Personally I would have to go with 2) here, as it seems the by far most likely to me from experience; but I will keep an open mind and not rule out 1) entirely.