5 ms·
X5.1 solar flare, G4 geomagnetic storm watch
- abujazar 11mo agoAlso: 100 % cloud cover in basically all of Northern Europe :/ Iceland is probably the place to be for the aurora show!
- onion2k 11mo agoYep. It's raining pretty hard here in the North East of the UK. Not much point in going to look.
- SoftTalker 11mo ago"...geomagnetic storm watch for tomorrow as the cloud could impact our planet as early as 16 UTC on 12 November"
- dom96 11mo agoYep, clouds... clouds everywhere https://weather.metoffice.gov.uk/maps-and-charts/cloud-cover-map#?model=ukmo-ukv&layer=cloud-amount-total https://weather.metoffice.gov.uk/maps-and-charts/cloud-cover...
- thebruce87m 11mo agoNote to non-UK readers: Most of the time when someone says they are in the “North East of the UK” it’s not some Scotsman up in Shetland it is an English person who is currently in the North East of England. The North East of England is in the middle part of the UK mainland.
- lukan 11mo agoSo .. they don't see scotland as part of the UK anyway? Why was it such an issue then that they wanted to leave? (And why were there bloody wars fought about it in the first place?)
- hdgvhicv 11mo agoWho wanted to leave? What wars?
- kjs3 11mo agoSomeone with a tiny little...um...axe to grind and not enough sense to take it someplace where people care. You can tell when they have to go back to Culloden to try and drag something up to wave around.
- lukan 11mo agoScotland the UK? (They were allowed to vote in the end and voted to remain) And wars happened when scotland was forced to become part of the UK in medieval times. (Braveheart)
- hdgvhicv 11mo agoSo Scotland didn’t want to leave. And Scotland didn’t unite with England until after the Scottish King took over he English throne hundreds of years after the time of William Wallace You might be confusing the U.K. with the USA where a pet of the country there wanted to leave and were refused and that did lead to war, and that happened far more recently than 700 years ago.
- kilroy123 11mo agoIt's raining off and on in London as well.
- mr_toad 11mo agoNo sun ‘til next week :-(
- sva_ 11mo agoIn northern Germany, it seems like clouds will clear up tomorrow night, when the CME arrives, according to meteoblue? I can only hope.
- DonaldFisk 11mo agoScotland, 56 degrees north - I was able to see the aurora through occasional gaps in fast moving clouds around 0400hrs. Red, easily visible to the naked eye.
- Arainach 11mo ago> could impact our planet as early as 16 UTC on 12 November Is that 16:00 or 00:16?
- aaronmdjones 11mo ago16 hundred hours; 16:00. Since revised down to midday (12 UTC). https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/sites/default/files/styles/pad_sides_large/public/top_news/11NovCME_G4Watch12Novamd.png https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/sites/default/files/styles/pad_sid...
- deskamess 11mo agoBad timing for North America Eastern TZ - day break here. Pacific/Mountain TZ should be fine.
- CoastalCoder 11mo agoIn Rhode Island it seems like auroras practically guarantee overcast skies. Update: tonight the sky is clear and the air is frigid. I guess this logically implies there won't be an aurora :)
- aftbit 11mo agoISO timestamps are the one true way: 2025-11-12T16Z
- brcmthrowaway 11mo agoCould this destroy the ISS?
- fghorow 11mo ago[1] is a real-time forecast for the auroral oval. See if you are in with a chance. Clear Skies! [1] https://www.spaceweatherlive.com/en/auroral-activity/auroral-oval.html https://www.spaceweatherlive.com/en/auroral-activity/auroral...
- LeoPanthera 11mo agoThey seem to be scraping the forecast images from https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/communities/aurora-dashboard-experimental https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/communities/aurora-dashboard-exper...
- xattt 11mo agoAtlantic Canada is sorely underrepresented on the city charts, even though many locations would have amazing viewing.
- elpakal 11mo agoHmm. It says my city has 0% chance of visibility but I'm looking at it outside right now.
- snitzr 11mo agoAre we doomed by the next Carrington Event?
- LargoLasskhyfv 11mo agoThat one was weak. Try https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miyake_event https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miyake_event instead.
- hrnnnnnn 11mo agoProbably not. https://existentialcrunch.substack.com/p/space-weather-and-critical-infrastructure https://existentialcrunch.substack.com/p/space-weather-and-c...
- AngryData 11mo agoPossibly, but not from this event, it isn't nearly that strong.
- rpcope1 11mo agoYou can see the real time magnetic field change when it hits: https://dasi.barlow.cpi.com/dashboard https://dasi.barlow.cpi.com/dashboard
- perihelions 11mo agoThis seems to be a distinct but similar magnetometer network, with global reach, https://intermagnet.org/data_download.html https://intermagnet.org/data_download.html Example data, (Neumayer Station III in Antarctica) https://imag-data.bgs.ac.uk/GIN_V1/GINForms2?observatoryIagaCode=VNA&publicationState=Best+available&dataStartDate=2025-11-11&dataDuration=2&samplesPerDay=minute&submitValue=View+%2F+Download&request=DataView https://imag-data.bgs.ac.uk/GIN_V1/GINForms2?observatoryIaga... I wonder why there doesn't seem to be any website with a map view of all of the planet's magnetometers. Looks like there should be more than enough data to make an interesting livemap. Here's a list of the sites, https://www.gfz.de/en/section/geomagnetism/infrastructure/geomagnetic-observatories https://www.gfz.de/en/section/geomagnetism/infrastructure/ge...
- tiagod 11mo ago>I wonder why there doesn't seem to be any website with a map view of all of the planet's magnetometers. Looks like there should be more than enough data to make an interesting livemap. Another project for the queue...
- superkuh 11mo agoWe won't know any actionable detail till about 1 hour before it arrives at Earth. That's when interplanetary coronal mass ejections actually have their magnetic field orientation and intensity measured by ACE and other satellites far out at the L1 lagrange point: https://services.swpc.noaa.gov/images/ace-mag-swepam-24-hour.gif https://services.swpc.noaa.gov/images/ace-mag-swepam-24-hour... If you see the red line on this plot^, the interplanetary magnetic field, be more than -10 nanotesla for about 4 hours then there's a good chance of lower than normal latitude aurora. Negative means the magnetic field is pointing downwards out of the ecliptic plane of the solar system and this is the most energetically favorable orientation for reconnecting CME magnetic field lines with Earth's magnetic field lines and letting solar particles/energy in. It can be 20nT positive (upwards) magnetic field with intense density and high velocity but still be a non-event aurora-wise just because energy is delivered to the Earth's ring currents at 10x slower rate than if it's pointing downwards. None of the WSA-ENLIL or related predictive models take into consideration the magnetic field orientation of iCMEs because it's really hard to know from remote observations. They can be thought of as warnings to pay attention to the ACE L1 measurements.
- Havoc 11mo agoNice comment. Thanks for explaining
- simonebrunozzi 11mo agoThanks a lot for sharing this. Yours is a truly outstanding comment. I am so glad that sometimes here on HN I find little gems like this one. Have you considered writing something longer on the subject? Or have you done so, and would you mind sharing links?
- meindnoch 11mo agoCarrington event 2.0?
- nreilly 11mo agoThis has a pretty good view of the aurora now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfF9bhaBuvw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfF9bhaBuvw
- aussieguy1234 11mo agolooks like i'll be going out tonight
- sigmaprimus 11mo agowhat effect if any will the solar flare emissions have on the new ish constellation style satellite networks? and or vice versa? EG would a shielded group or constellation provide a pathway for charge particles around the Earth?
- drmpeg 11mo agoA severe geomagnetic storm is starting now (November 12 0000Z). But it's from the previous X-flares (X1.7 and X1.2), not the X5.1 flare.
- hnburnsy 11mo agoG4 reached... https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/news/g4-severe-storm-levels-reached https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/news/g4-severe-storm-levels-reache... >G4 (Severe) Storm Levels Reached! published: Wednesday, November 12, 2025 01:40 UTC G4 (Severe) storm levels reached on 12 November at 0120 UTC (8:20pm EST)! Geomagnetic storm conditions are anticipated to continue into the night. Stay informed at spaceweather.gov for the latest. The included aurora images are of the aurora shining over northeastern Colorado.
- sva_ 11mo agoBe aware that this is from a previous X flare, afaik
- gpm 11mo agoReports of seeing the aurora right now across North America down to the US/Mexico border. If that describes you and you're not under cloud cover (like I unfortunately am) I'd recommend going outside and finding somewhere dark with a clear view north. Cell phone cameras see it better than people for whatever reason, so looking at it through your phone is an option. Request for "very low latitude" pictures from a researcher here: https://bsky.app/profile/vincentledvina.bsky.social/post/3m5fks5fqs22n https://bsky.app/profile/vincentledvina.bsky.social/post/3m5...
- deleted 11mo ago[deleted]
- jodacola 11mo agoFully visible with naked eye in Kansas City. Beautiful magenta hues in the sky. My first time seeing an aurora in person.
- alexgaribay 11mo agoI see it as well in southern KC. I've been to Alaska in the winter with hopes to the see the Northern Lights. Pretty awesome to see it this far south!
- deleted 11mo ago[deleted]
- mr_toad 11mo agoBillions of tonnes of matter ejected at millions of kph. It’s shame we can’t harness that energy.
- AlexErrant 11mo agoIf you're in [redacted], was visible about 15m ago https://imgur.com/a/36cncec https://imgur.com/a/36cncec Not so much now, but maybe it'll come back!
- bobmcnamara 11mo agoDown in northern Missouri too
- drewnick 11mo agoUpstate South Carolina as well
- NooneAtAll3 11mo agorelevant xkcd: https://xkcd.com/2233/ https://xkcd.com/2233/
- therobots927 11mo agoI saw this in the Denver area in Colorado, US an hour and a half ago. I looked up and couldn’t believe the sky was red. Took me a while to realize it was the aurora borealis. Very cool!
- vvladymyrov 11mo ago15 min ago I saw it north from Denver - half of the sky was red.
- TechDebtDevin 11mo agoPics I took in Denver! https://imgur.com/gallery/northern-lights-denver-zPF7PJC https://imgur.com/gallery/northern-lights-denver-zPF7PJC
- deleted 11mo ago[deleted]
- HaZeust 11mo agoChecking in from Littleton - saw it as well! My friend all the way from Grand Junction CO posted photos too
- JKCalhoun 11mo agoDad sent me a photo [1] from Alaska of the red light. He said they rarely get it "so far south" (he is in southern Alaska). [1] (Not a great photo, but you get the idea.) https://imgur.com/a/TfkcbJQ https://imgur.com/a/TfkcbJQ
- throw48753 11mo agoI know there are a lot of comments from people saying they’ve seen it, but as I understand it this solar flare won’t hit until 16h UTC, or about 12 hours from now, and there are two weaker flares hitting about now that are currently visible? Is that understanding correct?
- throwawaymaths 11mo agoYes, and it's in the article.
- Digory 11mo agoSo - even bigger tomorrow? Tonight was pretty amazing.
- shashanoid 11mo agocool super amazing
- aussieguy1234 11mo agoG4 is happening now https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/alerts-watches-and-warnings https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/alerts-watches-and-warnin...
- schainks 11mo agoI can currently photograph this on my mobile phone in seattle from my backyard, good times!
- Animats 11mo agoUS power grid info: PJM: Geomagnetic Disturbance Warning 11.11.2025 19:25 (PJM times are Eastern Standard). PJM-RTO A Geomagnetic Disturbance Warning has been issued for 19:25 on 11.11.2025 through 04:00 on 11.12.2025 . A GMD warning of K7 or greater is in effect for this period. This is only a warning. There are no listed actions being taken. When you see Geomagnetic Disturbance Action, not just Warning, there's a problem. That happened most recently on June 1, 2025. Extra people are probably on standby all night in case something happens. CAISO: Nothing. ERCOT: Nothing. Hydro-Québec: Multiple snow-related outages near Montreal and some other locations. Background info from the last time HN got wound up about this.[1] [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44152154 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44152154
- Animats 11mo agoPJM warning is still in effect as of the next morning, but there are still no related actions.
- Animats 11mo agoPJM closed out the warning at 11.13.2025 04:00 EST. No emergency actions were required. Incident over.
- tharkun__ 11mo agoSo then "Montreal and some other locations" probably had the best views of any densely populated areas to watch the Aurora: When power is out, light pollution is no longer a problem!
- PeaceTed 11mo agoDown in Victoria, Australia. Looks like the clouds should clear just in time for night fall and a decent show. Very cool.
- alvinveroy 11mo ago[dead]
- childintime 11mo agoAnother addition to Falsehoods programmers believe about time. A scary one.
- TechDebtDevin 11mo agoCan you expand on this, or reccomend some reading. Genuinely curious
- noahlt 11mo agoHe’s referencing this classic blog post: https://infiniteundo.com/post/25326999628/falsehoods-programmers-believe-about-time https://infiniteundo.com/post/25326999628/falsehoods-program... Discussed on HN here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32548085 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32548085
- cperciva 11mo agoYou lose GPS, which breaks real-time power grid management Why? Power infrastructure isn't moving, and ntp is plenty accurate enough for timekeeping here; no need for GPS clocks.
- dividedbyzero 11mo agoAren't transformers protected these days? I thought they had all been outfitted with automated safety disconnects ages ago pretty much everywhere. Obviously most transformers going offline all of a sudden is still a pretty scary situation, but recovery should be on the order of days, not months.
- phyalow 11mo agoBot comment. Its not x its y… Why bother?
- rhinoceraptor 11mo agoI'm disappointed I missed it, I had disabled my Aurora phone alert after it woke me up for a 1% chance of seeing it a few weeks ago. I saw a bit of light in SE Michigan at about 1:30 AM EST, but just a tinge of green.
- AnimalMuppet 11mo agoIt's not over - check back tonight.
- beAbU 11mo agoI'm in Ireland and went out last night to try and find it, last year I got some spectacular photos from my bedroom window. Alas it only peaked as it was over the US so sadly I missed out. Ireland is far enough north that we actually get the aurora somewhat regularly. We rarely have clear skies though, making it a true "planets align" thing to actually see it.
- Balinares 11mo agoThere were some beautiful ones overhead around 2am and I slept right through them. Ah well.
- zombot 11mo agoToo bad, it's not about a wristwatch that displays geomagnetic storms.
- gattr 11mo agoShameless plug: active region (and sunspot group) 4274 has already produced several X-class solar flares, alas, I didn't manage to catch one during my short weekend imaging session. Though there was a nice prominence; 38-min time lapse (Earth to scale): https://app.astrobin.com/u/GreatAttractor?i=9tkxay#gallery https://app.astrobin.com/u/GreatAttractor?i=9tkxay#gallery
- PetitPrince 11mo agoThe Swiss Weather Office official app has a crowdsourced photo gallery: https://www.meteosuisse.admin.ch/services-et-publications/applications/observations-meteo.html#tab=meteo-reports-gallery https://www.meteosuisse.admin.ch/services-et-publications/ap... Look at the pictures from 3AM onwards on the 12 of November: you'll have a nice overview of how the aurora looked like from Switzerland (it's a time sensitive app and they certainly don't keep the pictures forever).
- dotancohen 11mo agoThe curvature of the Earth can be deducted from those photos on the map! It is clear to see the aurora completely above the horizon in the Northern Swiss photos, and straddling the horizon in the photos from the south.
- argiope 11mo agoThis photo gallery also provides very nice pictures around Germany and the Alps: https://www.foto-webcam.eu/2025/11/12/0330 https://www.foto-webcam.eu/2025/11/12/0330
- doodlebugging 11mo agohttps://Spaceweather.com https://Spaceweather.com has a link to some photos taken in El Salvador at 13N Lat. Last night was a great show for sure. I enjoyed it for about 5 hours out here west of DFW. I hope the actual X5.1 event due to arrive in the next 3-5 hours will persist into the evening so I get another show.
- ofalkaed 11mo agoAurora is going pretty strong here in northern Minnesota, filling most of the sky. A jet is going over way up there right now, they must be getting a hell of a show.
- apawloski 11mo agoIs there a way to connect the Alert/Warnings/Watches from SWPC to specific events? It seems like there are at least three different solar events and it's hard for me to understand if they've all passed or if we're expecting more.
- drmpeg 11mo agoThe CME from the X5.1 flare has not arrived yet. Here are the websites I use: https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/ https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/ https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/communities/space-weather-enthusiasts-dashboard https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/communities/space-weather-enthusia... https://www.spaceweather.com/ https://www.spaceweather.com/ https://space.umd.edu/pm/ https://space.umd.edu/pm/
- apawloski 11mo agoThat's what I'm most curious about -- how do you see that it hasn't arrived yet when you're looking at SWPC? Here is the SWPC forecast [0] Time_UTC,Nov_12,Nov_13,Nov_14 00-03UT,8.67 (G4),6.67 (G3),4.67 (G1) 03-06UT,8.33 (G4),6.33 (G2),4.00 06-09UT,7.00 (G3),6.00 (G2),3.33 09-12UT,7.00 (G3),4.67 (G1),3.67 12-15UT,6.00 (G2),4.00,3.33 15-18UT,5.67 (G2),3.33,3.00 18-21UT,7.67 (G4),4.33,3.00 21-00UT,6.00 (G2),4.67 (G1),3.33 So I guess 18-21UTC today it'll get around 7.7kP, but that's lower than what hit this morning, when I'd expect X5.1 to be larger? Is that how I should interpret this? [0] https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/communities/space-weather-enthusiasts-dashboard https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/communities/space-weather-enthusia...
- drmpeg 11mo agoYes, you have it correct. However, predicting the effects of solar flares is very difficult. Not only does the particle stream have to hit the Earth, it has to couple with the magnetic field. Large flares can cause small events on Earth and vice versa.
- apawloski 11mo agoThanks for clarifying. I’m bummed that I didn’t prioritize going out last night to observe. I was thinking bigger glare would be better aurora tonight.
- scorpionnegro 11mo agoD Información de las representativas fórmulas para encuestar e secuestrar el circulo matemático q carcule la fuerza de velocidad es en el encontrar la física cuántica
- Polizeiposaune 11mo agoThe flare is delaying a rocket launch due to concerns about the potential impact on the payload (two spacecraft bound for Mars): "NG-2 Update: New Glenn is ready to launch. However, due to highly elevated solar activity and its potential effects on the ESCAPADE spacecraft, NASA is postponing launch until space weather conditions improve. We are currently assessing opportunities to establish our next launch window based on forecasted space weather and range availability." https://twitter.com/blueorigin/status/1988621902881914961 https://twitter.com/blueorigin/status/1988621902881914961
- betteryet 11mo agoLove the use of space weather
- groos 11mo agoThis aurora looks predominantly red. The last big one had pinks and greens easily visible to the naked eye. I wonder what causes the difference.
- keehun 11mo agoHas all to do with solar flare energy levels and how/where it interacts in the atmosphere. [1][2] [1]: https://www.space.com/aurora-colors-explained https://www.space.com/aurora-colors-explained [2]: https://www.nps.gov/articles/-articles-aps-v8-i1-c9.htm https://www.nps.gov/articles/-articles-aps-v8-i1-c9.htm