Greg, KC2DWF, sent me a really interesting story about the work of the English solar astronomer Richard Carrington. He discovered a kind of solar flare (named for him) that comes along every few centuries and could knock us all off the air.As I was reading the article, I started to think about a childhood event that I think I mentioned in one of the podcasts. I have vivid memories of a summer night in which the skies were filled with really bright colorful lights. The article about Carrington notes that there was a major solar flare (but not of Carrington levels) on August 4, 1972 that caused auroral displays far into the southern part of the USA. The year is a bit later than I thought (I was 13 at that time) but the time of year is correct. And that flare was big enough to have caused really vivid aurora over New York.
The NASA site "Brushfires in the Sky" provides this very helpful list for people, like me, trying to figure out what we saw, and when:
The Aurora Watchers Handbook lists the following "Great Geomagnetic Storms" of the 20th century when auroras were seen much farther south than usual. If you have a childhood memory of aurora borealis, it may have come from one of these storms.
- October 31 - November 1, 1903
- September 25, 1909
- May 13-16, 1921
- April 16, 1938
- February 11, 1958
- July 8, 1958
- August 4, 1972
- December 19, 1980
- March 13-14, 1989
Here is the article that Greg sent:
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/06may_carringtonflare.htm
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I remember that 1972 flare. It was shortly after I had finished building an 8" Newtonian telescope. I had it out in my back yard in Iowa when I noticed the aurora. I first though it some huge fire in a nearby town. The red glow looked as if it was flame reflecting off low clouds.
ReplyDeleteI went in and called some friends in that town and and they informed me there was no fire. Later the 'curtain' streamers started and it became clear it was the Northern Lights.
73,
Tom - NCØO
saw it too that night. was out with my six inch criterion reflector.
DeleteI was in northern Michigan the summer of '72 working at a children's camp. I do remember seeing the Northern Lights for the first time in early August (I'm from Missouri). Even the locals were surprised how active they were - especially for summertime.
ReplyDeleteYes, I saw them that summer when I worked on Mackinac Island, Michigan! Spectacular Show!
DeleteI saw them at Lake Wallenpaupack and remember seeing on the Scranton news channel that there was a rare appearance of Aurora Borealis. At the time , being an 11 year old, we thought it was something alien from outer space.
DeleteI remember it well. I had just returned from Tanglewood (Lenox, MA)where I enjoyed Leonard Bernstein and the Boston Symphony Orchestra perform Dvorak's "New World Symphony". I just happened to glance north while exiting my car....What a stroke of good fortune!!
ReplyDeleteI don't remember it, but I was there for some of it.... I was born 6:15pm that day. :)
ReplyDeleteI was 2 years old! It was so profound that I came online searching for when this event could have taken place. I remember still to this day! It must have been spectacular for a 2 year old to remember such a thing. I lived in Joplin, MO at the time and it has been a strong desire to see the AB again as an adult. I'll be 50 in May, sounds like a wonderful half century birthday present to me. I live in Texas now and have since 1984, so there have been no spectacular late night light shows since then. Thank you for this article, I was focusing on years 73 and 74 thinking in 72 I was too young and in 75 and up I would have been aware enough to remember much more about the event. Imagine a memory so ingrained it resonates still nearly 48 years later.
ReplyDeleteI was 15 years old living in Rocklake, ND. They were insane!!!! The colors were none that I have ever seen since, even in pictures! Unbelievable ad I tru ro described what me and my sister's and cousins witness that night.
ReplyDeleteThanks to all who commented over the years. Rockdale, ND: Your comments got kind of garbled -- please, what did you want to say?
ReplyDeleteI thought I had a memory lapse or something I remember being at our Church and seeing them people look at me now like I'm crazy to have this memory. Thank u for confirming I would have been 10 yrs old. I'll have to check if that was a Wednesday or Sunday night
ReplyDeleteCould I have seen them outside of Dallas Texas?! I remember wavy red lights glowing all across the sky one night in august in the 1970s. I can’t specifically remember the year, but it was definitely summer and it was just amazing.
ReplyDeleteLisaR: Yes, that could have been it! Bill
ReplyDeleteI saw them and was flabbergasted
ReplyDeleteWas at a friend's house in Hudson Michigan after a bunch of us had been out that night
It was about 2 am...a bunch of us got on the roof and watched
One of the most gorgeous things I've ever seen
I saw them over Lake Temagami in Ontario in early August 1972. Unbelievable.
ReplyDeleteI was 6 years old in Louisiana when it happened. I ran in the house to get my parents. I thought it was the end of the world 🤣🤣🤣
ReplyDeleteI was in Santa Cruz county in California. I was 12 years old. I have been asking recently if anybody remembered this event I remember running into the house and getting my dad. I have a very vivid memory of the green lights across the sky, wavering it lasted about 10 minutes.
ReplyDeleteNo, and I lived in Ottawa then. But not licensed.
ReplyDelete(Late contribution...) Yes, I remember the phenomenon; but it was an earlier occurence that will be hard to believe. I was on my grandfather's farm in Southwest Missouri (Newtonia/Stark City) at some very early age and remember the sky swirling greenish & magenta, looking north. The only timeframe that matches would be one of the two events in 1958, given that I am now 74. Age 8...startling!
ReplyDeleteI've thought about this a long time. I'd finished my BA at Urbana, IL (U of I), was working with a local rock band driving equipment back from playing in Aurora, IL (of all places). My fellow 'roadie' Chris Bland and I saw what we thought was a fire above the treeline to the west. Once we'd cleared the forrest, we pulled to the side of the road and watched an amazing light show with seemingly colored balls rolling up from swaths of green, purple and yellow. We decided it was probably flashback, excessive sleep deprivation or just weird. Years later, traveling in the polar regions, I believe what I'd seen was the Aurora Borealis. Only searching today, at 73, did I realize it was totally possible even that far south due to this phenomena in August of 1972. Shortly thereafter I returned to my natal home to begin teaching public high school.
ReplyDeleteYes. From southern Michigan. Breathtaking. Green, blue, orange, yellow, red, everything, rippling across the sky from horizon to horizon, until the Sun came up. Nothing like it before or since, and I’ve seen other Auroras.
ReplyDeleteI was 11 years old. Me and a couple of friends were camping in my back Yard when we saw them. We freaked out! We ran into the house yelling the world was ending! Dad explained it and we watched in amazement! I will never forget that beautiful sky that night
ReplyDeleteI remember driving around with a buddy of mine and seeing the Northern lights out on a country road north of Rockford IL on a summer night. It had to be the 8/4/1972 event. Nice to be able to put a date on that experience. It was a beautiful show of mostly green and blue moving and wavering lights. It was amazing and the memory is vivid. In those days, there was probably not much forewarning of the event, and it was not possible for the average person in those days to capture video as there is today.
ReplyDeleteJust driving home with my parents from Trenton N.J. along rout 1 and the Parkway. Lots of overhead lights and car lights, and yet, I could see it through the side window of the station wagon. Lots of red, pink and some green. Got home in Hawthorne around 12 midnight and stayed up to watch it more, till 2am. Never saw it like that again ever.
ReplyDeleteGood
ReplyDeleteI rember them. What I saw was the lights streaking across the sky above me. Then the streak would recess and another would beging. There would be from 3 to 4 streaks in the sky at a time. Never saw anything like it again. This was in Wisconsin about 25 miles west of Milwaukee
ReplyDeleteI lived in Waco Tx and ran around trying to find somebody to come out and see what I. I was 16, my parents were entertaining someone and I was just being annoying. I ran across the backyard to my best friend's house, and his mother kindly told me that he couldn't come out, he had to study. So I stood in my backyard alone, in awe, and watched the light show in red.
ReplyDeleteI saw it in texas too! I got my dad to come out, but we didn’t realize what it was til the meteorologist on the 10:00 news (on Dallas station) confirmed. I just saw my second Aurora in Boulder CO last Thursday. The one from 1972 in TX was definitely more vivid (and visible to the naked eye) due to light pollution in Boulder (and only visible thru cell phone camera). Still amazing.
DeleteYes i remember 1972. I went out back to empty the trash and at that time the sky was bright green. It scared me half to death. I didn't know ow it could be seen this far south. Northeast Texas.
ReplyDeleteI remember seeing 'the northern lights' around 11 p.m. one summer night . I hadn't been expecting to see them. I had just finished 2nd shift at Fisher Price in Medina NY. That was a summer job between college semesters. I was in my parents driveway (in the village). I 'happened' to look north and I immediately knew what I was looking at. Despite the trees and houses it was fully evident. I ran into the house and brought out my youngest sister, who still remembers to this day the experience. This year, 2024 there have been opportunities to experience the northern lights, but so far, none have 'matched' the dancing colors of that night.
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