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Earlier today the Sun unleashed a massive solar flare towards the Earth. This has been classified as a power X7 class solar flare. This is a pretty big one. It is believed to have caused the largest radiation storm to hit the Earth since 1989. Early this evening I got a warning off AuroraWatch about this and the electron density increasing. I wasn't sure though and since the weather looked bad I though there was no chance. However I cam back to my computer about midnight and it looked promising. The activity was still quite high and it was wonderfully clear.

Plot from SAMNET's York magnetometer
I reckon we might have seen the Aurora. I initially saw a glowing object in Orion which could have been some auroral activity but I was much more convinced when we saw a banded reddish glow towards campus. The only problem is Birmingham is badly light polluted and so I can not be sure if we did see it. I would iike to think we did and it is quite conceivable that we might have. Definitely makes me want to go North on a holiday soon. (Oh I dragged all my house mates into the garden!)
Through a group I am a member off their have been various observing reports with regards to tonight Aurora already so it is possible that we did see something. An interesting video of the aurora can be seen at: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/c.rogers/Aurora-210105.avi and there have been some excellent photos taken in more traditional observing places. Some good photos where taken by Carsten Arnholm and can be found at http://www.arnholm.org/astro/atmosphere/aurora20050121/ More info:
- Solar Flare Classification - http://www.spaceweather.com/glossary/flareclasses.html
- Aurora Watch - http://www.dcs.lancs.ac.uk/iono/aurorawatch/