A major aurora storm broke loose last night. Unfortunately under the clouds and even rain showers from my location.
The good news: it was that intense, that even clouds could not stop it!
Where did the party go?
The press was exstatic on announcing the biggest Northern Lights show since May earlier this year. That comnined with a clear night, made a lot of innocent people very excited and hopefull to see the aurora.
Sadly this big party became a major bummer as in: nothing at all to see!
Which raises the question: how precise are these perdictions anyway? Not very precise at all? It looks more a rigged gamble then anything calculated.
On the night movie a very minor aurora is visible around 3h36, and that’s it! Not really worth abandoning the warm comfort of your bed, unless maybe you have never ever seen an aurora, and even then: this miserable patch of barely visible light is probably more a turn-off
Because, as a amateur-astronomer: what are you telling the public the day after?
The more experienced people will likely already have abandoned the gambling game of actually seeing something spectacular, when newspapers announce again a ‘supermoon’, ‘comet of the century’ – or in this case a major aurora show.
Hopefully the maybe science but also the press will have as many articles explaining why nothing was there as they had sensational articles on announcing the show.