# Northern Lights Right Now! Wisconsin, 11 PM CST **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 28, 2009, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/northern-lights-right-now-wisconsin-11-pm-cst/483354 "2009-01-28T05:13:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/northern-lights-right-now-wisconsin-11-pm-cst/483354/1 "2009-01-28T05:13:56Z")
In case anybody can catch them. Three vertical pink streaks low in the northern sky just now. Mr. S saw more about a half-hour ago when he was driving home from work in central WI, also toward the east and south (yes, south!). ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/northern-lights-right-now-wisconsin-11-pm-cst/483354/2 "2009-01-28T05:39:16Z")
How lovely. I’ve always wanted to be able to see the aurora australis, but you need to be much further south than Sydney. ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/northern-lights-right-now-wisconsin-11-pm-cst/483354/3 "2009-01-28T06:24:33Z")
I’m SO jealous. I miss aurora. Red and pink are rare, too! ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/northern-lights-right-now-wisconsin-11-pm-cst/483354/4 "2009-01-28T16:18:50Z")
I’ve never seen them. As far as I know I’m too far south (39.783250 degrees north). Are these things predictable? Like, f’rinstance, could I book a trip to Anchorage at a certain time of year and have a greater likelihood of seeing them than I would at a different time of year? ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/northern-lights-right-now-wisconsin-11-pm-cst/483354/5 "2009-01-28T16:27:57Z")
I think your planning of when in the 11 year solar cycle might have better results. Someone help me here… don’t the auroras wax and wane with the sunspot activity cycle? Off to research… ETA: [NASA](http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/14dec_excitement.htm) says we’re in a solar minimum but that a new cycle _may_ be beginning. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/northern-lights-right-now-wisconsin-11-pm-cst/483354/6 "2009-01-28T16:30:32Z")
I’ve seen them on rare occasions here in the Chicago area. Always freaky-cool. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Dazzling\_White\_Diamonds](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/41988e/32.png) [@Dazzling\_White\_Diamonds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dazzling_White_Diamonds)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/northern-lights-right-now-wisconsin-11-pm-cst/483354/7 "2009-01-28T19:12:37Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > I’ve never seen them. As far as I know I’m too far south (39.783250 degrees north Actually, you’re not too far south - I’ve seen several from where I live, and I live just east of Danville on the IL/IN border. There are websites that can help you determine whether an aurora is happening, and whether it would be visible in your neck of the woods. The website I really love visiting for this is [Spaceweather.com](http://www.spaceweather.com). It has grown over the years in such a way that I rarely need to visit the other sites that I used to. I have some pix that I took of some of the aurorae I’ve seen from the end of my driveway (I live out in the country away from the light pollution of Danville, which helps). They turned out beautifully. 🙂 Lots of red, pink, white and green. And **lieu** , you are correct. You get more auroral activity during solar maximum, which is still a few years away yet. Doesn’t mean an aurora won’t happen, it’s just not as likely or frequent. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/northern-lights-right-now-wisconsin-11-pm-cst/483354/8 "2009-01-28T20:11:25Z")
This page has viewer-submitted reports, but nobody’s reported aurora from Wisconsin. You could if you wanted to. [http://www.spacew.com/www/auroras.php](http://www.spacew.com/www/auroras.php) There wasn’t a high K[sub]p[/sub] index last night [(see “Estimated K[sub]p[/sub]”, bottom section of the chart at the bottom of the page)](http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/today2.html). Here in Chicago we need K[sub]p[/sub] of 7 or greater for the best chance of viewing aurora. You got lucky and saw a local substorm or something. Or some secret government test. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/northern-lights-right-now-wisconsin-11-pm-cst/483354/9 "2009-01-28T20:56:13Z")
If you like aurora pics, a [good friend](http://aurorahunter.com/) gave up a lucrative career as a petroleum geologist to capture the aurora fulltime.