Milkyway in the daytime?

Originally posted by Versa

Originally posted by sith9157
I don't think the Milky way can be observed during the daylight hours. I did some checking around before posting this, and I could not find any site stating that this is possible. But, over at Spaceweather.com this was posted

AURORA WATCH: Earth is entering a minor solar wind stream that could stir up geomagnetic activity around the Arctic Circle. Sky watchers at high latitudes should be alert for auroras.


www.spaceweather.com...

ty

Im am on the mendip hills here, not sure if that could be considered high altitude

but Aurora seems the most logical explanation

edit on 23/8/11 by Versa because: (no reason given)

er, its high latitude isn't it, not high altitude. Too far south to be an aurora.

reply to post by Versa
I wish we had more pictures of it. People are suggesting Aurora B. but I think it's unlikely at that time of day in Southern England.

Somewhere in the mid-90s me and friends saw the Aurora from Lancashire and it looked similar to the red arc in your pic. The difference was that it was pitch black so the light had a chance to be seen, it looked like a fading sunset on the northern horizon and pretty cool. If I remember how delicate the light was (pale and shifting slightly), it wouldn't have had a chance to be seen in daylight.

At the time it was extra odd because we knew for a *fact* that Aurora B. would never make it that far south. Showed what we knew, it can and does.

If it wasn't milky way and wasn't aurora b. it's probably an effect of dusk coming in and the sun settling down.

Originally posted by Kandinsky

At the time it was extra odd because we knew for a *fact* that Aurora B. would never make it that far south. Showed what we knew, it can and does.

People are suggesting Aurora B. but I think it's unlikely at that time of day in Southern England.

Shows what we know, right?


Versa, it's certainly possible for the aurora to be visible during the day, especially if it's particularly high energy. It should be faint (as it is in your photos), but it would certainly be visible. It's also no surprise to find this form of aurora at a relatively low latitude... the only true surprise is the timing, given the lack of any significant solar activity at the time.
As for the colour...pink just means it was high altitude atomic (as opposed to molecular) oxygen being excited and emitting red light, which was then being combined with the light blue colour of the sky to make pink. That would be my somewhat educated guess, anyway.

reply to post by CLPrime
Would the aurora be seen in the SE of England and not the Northern parts of England? Prior to my earlier post, I looked for any history of Aurora B. being seen in Southern England during daylight and was also unable to find any unusually heightened solar activity on the 24th that might have pointed us to that conclusion.

August the 5th was a different matter. The image in the article is NW England.

Originally posted by Kandinsky

Would the aurora be seen in the SE of England and not the Northern parts of England?

Certainly. In fact, I would think the auroral arc is more likely to do so. However...

Prior to my earlier post, I looked for any history of Aurora B. being seen in Southern England during daylight

I suppose there's always a first time for everything.
Though, it would take a bombardment of radiation of extremely high intensity, which, you would think, should have been seen across England.

and was also unable to find any unusually heightened solar activity on the 24th that might have pointed us to that conclusion.

That's the biggest problem. Perhaps it wasn't from solar activity?

reply to post by CLPrime
Ruling out solar activity and finding no other evidence that Aurora were visible in Southern England on the 24th, what other possible explanations would fit?

Weather in Somerset 24th in case that helps.

Originally posted by Kandinsky
reply to post by CLPrime

 

Ruling out solar activity ... what other possible explanations would fit?

How about other sources of cosmic radiation?

reply to post by CLPrime
Space Weather was the source; I assumed you'd checked it, my mistake.

reply to post by Kandinsky


I mean, like, sources other than the sun. I did check, and I saw nothing from the sun...but that doesn't preclude other sources of cosmic radiation. I'm just not sure if this non-solar radiation shows up on solar wind monitors, or if they just show what comes from the sun. I haven't been paying attention to these monitors for long enough to be all that familiar with how they work.

reply to post by CLPrime
Aurora are generated by solar winds and exacerbated by heightened solar activity. Space Weather indicates no particular activity on the day so other explanations for the pink arc in the image become more probable.

It's unlikely that the aurora would be seen here in the UK in daylight that far south unless there was a massive solar storm.

I think it may be a Volcanic sunset...

Sky watchers in Europe should be alert for volcanic sunsets. "For the past week, we've seen unusual twilight rays probably caused by high-attitude aerosols from Nabro, a volcano which erupted in Eritrea on June 13th," reports Petr Horalek from the Ondřejov Observatory of the Astronomical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic.

Link to photos

High altitude aerosols causing red/purple streaks across the sky. Quite possible they can be seen shortly before sunset before a normal 'red sky' due to the altitude of the particles.

Source

reply to post by fiftyfifty
That's a fair point and could be the answer

blimey you guys are good at this Its all a touch hard for me to follow (not being of a scientific bent) but I think your ruling out a Aurora now due to a lack of solar radiation activity (or something like that!)

So it could of been a volcanic sunset? Is that the conclusion or just another possibility?

Its a shame I couldnt get a pic of the entire sky as just looking at the sections on their own really doesnt do it justice

Originally posted by Versa
blimey you guys are good at this

Its all a touch hard for me to follow (not being of a scientific bent) but I think your ruling out a Aurora now due to a lack of solar radiation activity (or something like that!)

So it could of been a volcanic sunset? Is that the conclusion or just another possibility?

Its a shame I couldnt get a pic of the entire sky as just looking at the sections on their own really doesnt do it justice

That's the conclusion I'm coming to. Many others will disagree though I'm sure

reply to post by fiftyfifty


Would that account for a clear arc running from horizon to horizon? Im happy to accept any conclusion that fits the bill

reply to post by fiftyfifty


I'd call it another possibility. Probably the best one we've got at the moment, but still just a possibility.

Also, I'm still not sure if it's clear that not all cosmic radiation comes from the sun. So, just because there was no solar activity doesn't necessarily mean there was no cosmic radiation bombarding the atmosphere capable of producing such an aurora. So, forget the sun. Forget solar radiation. Do the solar radiation monitors detect incoming non-solar radiation?
I'm sure that's a question I should be able to answer on my own, but my fatigue-inspired headache is getting in the way.

I really don't think it's an aurora nor noctillucent clouds. Too many issues with both theories, firstly aurora being far too south. Fair enough it's not impossible but there are too many warning and alert systems that are covering it not to mention seasoned skygazers so I would expect more reports of it. Secondly it's far too bright to be an aurora visible in daylight, again not impossible but highly unlikely and given the fact that nearly all aurora photos are long exposure shots and that is at night time, it would be unlikely a single shot normal exposure would pick it up.

It also bears no resembelace to NC's either, just does not have any of the characteristics and the wrong time of day.
Volcanic sunset? Maybe but I even doubt that.

Apart from it being pretty I doubt it's much more than an effect caused by a regular sunset.
I'll accept being wrong though.

Hmm...how about this:
A front of thin high-altitude clouds with the leading edge being illuminated by the sun.

I'm on the east coast of the uk and there was a very pink sunset here tonight. So much so I commeneted on it to my other (better) half. Given the white clouds in your pic op, I'm going to say it was probably a pink sunset caught in the clouds at the upper level whilst clouds at lower level were still recieving better light. Obviously due to the curvature of the earth.

i noticed the pictures are a bit washed out

are these more akin to your observation?



correct orientation?


did you zoom in for this pic?


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