Non-motoring > Northern Lights on South Coast Miscellaneous
Thread Author: zippy Replies: 18
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New Sat 11 May 24 00:09 
 Northern Lights on South Coast - zippy
Observable on the south coast if anyone is awake!
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New Sat 11 May 24 06:48 
 Northern Lights on South Coast - Runfer D'Hills
Saw them in Cheshire last night. Having spent my childhood in Scotland, they were an occasional phenomenon then, but I can’t remember seeing them this far south.
Nice.
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New Sat 11 May 24 08:56 
 Northern Lights on South Coast - Bobby
Social media is full of photos from all over the country of them. I sat out at my new Solo Stove last night in deepest urban Lanarkshire and couldn’t see a thing sadly!

Rumours today that the Iceland tourist economy has just collapsed :)
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New Sat 11 May 24 10:42 
 Northern Lights on South Coast - zippy
>> Rumours today that the Iceland tourist economy has just collapsed :)
>>

Ha ha - Mrs Z has always wanted to see the Northern Lights and I have been saving up for a trip!

I drove her to the local country park to see the lights and after a few minutes I joked to her that this would save me a trip to the Artic Circle and was told in no uncertain to think again! :-)
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New Sat 11 May 24 12:43 
 Northern Lights on South Coast - smokie
Z - a little bit of dogging on a Friday night is no replacement for a cruise really :-)
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New Sat 11 May 24 13:45 
 Northern Lights on South Coast - zippy
>> Z - a little bit of dogging on a Friday night is no replacement for
>> a cruise really :-)
>>

Lol

This is what Mrs Z thinks dogging is: www.youtube.com/watch?v=5u4hAxi5b6o
Last edited by: zippy on Sat 11 May 24 at 13:46
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New Sat 11 May 24 12:42 
 Northern Lights on South Coast - smokie
Interesting, loads of photos on social meeja from here in Berkshire. It turns out they're not always visible to the naked eye but if you put your phone on night vision it shows up in pics. (not just on the screen, you need to take a pic).

Allegedly might be there tonight too.
Last edited by: smokie on Sat 11 May 24 at 12:43
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New Sat 11 May 24 13:13 
 Northern Lights on South Coast - Bromptonaut
Loads of pics from near home and from friends as far south as Salisbury. We're out in the 'van at Malvern but missed the heads up for this and were asleep.

Hopefully might be more tonight.

We came up here for the RHS show which was a bit of a disappointment. Admission fees in the region of £70 for two of us, and she got a discount as an RHS member. In effect it's a massive sale of plants and paraphernalia but very little real content or plantings etc.
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New Sat 11 May 24 13:56 
 Northern Lights on South Coast - Dog
>>turns out they're not always visible to the naked eye but if you put your phone on night vision it shows up in pics

Ah, dat's why I couldn't see 'em up here in the middle of Bodmin Moor with its dark skies, even though I looked for 'em twice when on piddle duty.

Pics from Bude and St Awful on s/media, so they could be seen in godforsaken Cornwall.
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New Sat 11 May 24 14:11 
 Northern Lights on South Coast - zippy
Dog...

Here is a scientific explanation...

Dogs have two types of colour receptors (cones) in their eyes

(Humans have three)

Therefore dogs see the world primarily in shades of blue and yellow. They can't distinguish between red and green, so these colours may appear as shades of grey to them.

Most of the lights I saw were purple and green - therefore just like grey clouds to dogs.

:-D
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New Sat 11 May 24 16:21 
 Northern Lights on South Coast - Dog
Zippo ...

Back in the days of flared jeans & kipper ties, I used to see all the colours of the rainbow whilst 'doing' LSD etc.

Fast-forward 55 years and I see they're using the hallucinogenic psilocybin to treat depression and anxiety.

Funny ole life.

:o}
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New Sat 11 May 24 21:43 
 Northern Lights on South Coast - sooty123
I missed this last night, I was going to have a look tonight but large parts of the country are covered in cloud as are we.
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New Sat 11 May 24 23:06 
 Northern Lights on South Coast - Rudedog
Not convinced with the fact you can only see them via a bit of electronic trickery.

If I went to the Artic circle then I hope I could them seem with the naked eye.... can anyone explain why these ones can only be seen via a phone?

I've been out about 30 minutes ago and didn't see anything with just my eye expect for about half a dozen fast moving feint satellites.
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New Sat 11 May 24 23:23 
 Northern Lights on South Coast - Fullchat
Been for a wander away from the street lights. Its a bit cloudy. Going to be a no show. :(
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New Sun 12 May 24 00:30 
 Northern Lights on South Coast - smokie
I didn't believe the camera thing till my daughter showed me it on hers. But obviously you don't always need to do it. I guess reception is probably poorer here than in the Arctic Circle!!
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New Sun 12 May 24 00:41 
 Northern Lights on South Coast - zippy
>>Not convinced with the fact you can only see them via a bit of electronic trickery.

Yesterday, there were feint bands of light that looked like wispy clouds. Look at them for a while and you could see very feint greens and purples.

Some modern phone cameras stack images and have a higher ISO rating (sensitivity) then our eyes and because of this they can really bring out the colour of the lights.

If you look at some youTube videos, you will see that often they are "meh" in the Arctic Circle with images stacked or long exposures showing spectacular colours and ripples (look for planes speeding along). At times, there are some spectacular shows there though.
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New Sun 12 May 24 10:33 
 Northern Lights on South Coast - Fursty Ferret
I live in an area of the country with no street lights. It took about 30 minutes but my eyes were adapted to the dark and I could see all the colours by then. The only difference is that the bright green picked up by cameras is more of a dusky blue in reality.

The way our eyes pick up light at night is very different to an electronic sensor, with the cones having poor sensitivity in comparison to the rods, which are monochromatic. Only solution is to become adapted to the dark, which is at least 20 minutes away from any light but red.
Last edited by: Fursty Ferret on Sun 12 May 24 at 10:34
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New Sun 12 May 24 15:26 
 Northern Lights on South Coast - Kevin
So you recommend spending at least 20 minutes in a red light area first?
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New Sun 12 May 24 16:58 
 Northern Lights on South Coast - Fursty Ferret
>> So you recommend spending at least 20 minutes in a red light area first?
>>
>>

Yes, and then you need to let your eyes adapt to the dark.
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