Naked eye observations of Aurorae at low magnetic latitudes
ATel #16635; Costantino Sigismondi (ICRA/Sapienza University of Rome, UPRA and ITIS G. Ferraris, Rome)
on 29 May 2024; 21:40 UT
Credential Certification: Costantino Sigismondi (sigismondi@icra.it)
Subjects: Optical, Request for Observations, A Comment, The Sun
The solar activity is approaching its maximum.
Geomagnetic storms already attained low magnetic latitudes on May 10/11.
From Florence Galileo Galilei gave firstly the name of "Boreal Aurorae" in 1623 [The Assayer, 20] to these phenomena, comparing their brightness to the comets and to the nautical twilight, and evaluating their parallax.
The giant sunspot AR 3664 released in May 2024 many X-class flares and several Coronal Mass Ejections (CME), and it turned again visible (renamed AR 3697) after a solar rotation, with increasing activity.
New Aurorae at low latitudes, as a result of CME impacts with Earth's magnetosphere, become probable.
Noteworthy on June 6, the giant sunspot will be near the Sun's center, along with the new Moon, which would ensure the best observing conditions for very low surface brightness phenomena.
Along with the photos, naked eye accounts of visibility of colors, forms, extensions, variability and surface brightness of aurorae at low magnetic latitudes, under dark skies, would be very useful to understand the ancient reports of the monks in the middle age, or texts of the classical antiquity, in order to compare better present and past solar activity.
The solar flares activity of AR3664 during May 2024 and the probability for a new G5 geomagnetic storm
