I'm 60 years old and have lived in Ma. most of my life. I've never seen the Northern lights, until maybe tonight. At about 8pm I noticed unusual light in the northeast sky. It wasn't very bright and I forgot about it almost immediately. Then at about 10:45pm my elderly mother called me to her bedroom because she kept seeing lights flashing outside her bedroom windows. Are we both crazy or could this have been the Northern Lights? We live in the country and there is a very bright full moon tonite (Mon. Oct.29) Frankly, she scared me alittle because I thought she might be halucinating.
northern lights??
Hello Audrey,
I check the space weather every once in a while located at http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/today.html . If the solar activity is high there's a very good chance of an aurora visible even lower than Massachusetts or Ohio. The aurora has been seen as far south as New Mexico, South Carolina, etc. Currently the solar activity is at a historic low, which means there's not much activity beyond where the aurora is normally seen.
If it's a clear night where you are and there are flashes in the sky, she may have seen a meteor, or a helicopter? I am in the flight path of a medical helicopter, and there's a small airport nearby. Sometimes it looks like "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" here. :)
Peace,
Joe G.
The first time I saw the Northern Lights - I was backing my truck out of the driveway, and continued to do so until I backed into the telephone pole across the street. I am glad it was there and I hit it, fore if not I would have been in the Tongass Narrows and that is one cold stretch of water.