If anyone happens to see the northern lights in Michigan (or nearby) please post a comment to alert others. Likewise, if you take (or find) photos of Michigan northern lights, post them too! You can subscribe to this post by RSS!
For a lot more on the aurora borealis including photos, links and auroral activity forecasts, check out the Aurora Page at Michigan Tech. NowPublic.com has collected some great photos of the Dec. 14 display and has details on the particularly violent solar flare behind this celestial show.
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Look up! 7:30 PM on December 14th, 2006! Also, there are meteor showers at 11 PM. Enjoy!!
Also, even if it's not until the next day, please post your comment as northern lights often appear several nights in a row!
Here's a cool photo of how the northern lights appeared across the big pond in Wisconsin, another WI shot, one from Rockford, MI and one I took in Leland.
From the vantage of M115, along the lake shore toward the Ludington State Park, the northern lights were amazing. Sheets of light--mostly white, but occasionally muted shades of red, orange, green, and blue--were billowing across the night sky. Great columns of light were dancing and shimmering. For a while, there appeared to an enormous rainbow stretching across the sky from north edging into the south. It was a rare and beautiful lightshow.
A large solar event took place yesterday. Read some of the articles regarding the activity. http://news.google.com/news?hl.....olar+flare Copy and past to your browser. It caused an amazing display last night. It filled the whole sky. No colors, but alot of swirling! About 9pm the clouds began to obscure them. I was able to let quite a few folks on the Leland Northern Lights watch brigade know they were out!!
They'll probably be back tonight. However, I don't think the weather is going to cooperate.
The kids and I watched them last night from Ogemaw County. They are supposed to be just as visible again tonight (12-15-06). I was able to get a few photos and one is posted on my flickr site if you're interested. I hope everybody is able to get out and watch them tonight. What an amazing experience!
The northern lights were seen down as far as Clarklake, MI (MIS Speedway Area) on 12/14/06. They started around 7:45p if not a little sooner and were still out when we went in for the night after 9pm. Hoping to catch them again tonight.
11:35pm 2/5/07 check them out! South Bend, Indiana (it's about 5 minutes outside of MI)
can you see them? It's crazy
My friend Harry saw some on July 9, 2007 over North Lake Leelanau.
Check this out because it's a cool photo (includes a shooting star) and also has a ton of links to Michigan Northern Lights photos!
I was fortunate enough to witness the northern lights (Aurora Borealis) last night approx 11:30 - 12:30 due north in lower sky faint hue of deep indian red curtains of light in the Boyne Falls - Petoskey area! Dan W. Walterscheid cactus4christ@aol.com
Cool - the red ones are my favorites!
Around 9:30-10:00 at night we seen the northern lights for 3 nights in a row.
Sitting in our hot-tub watching the light show in January was a treat.
We will be staying in Ishpeming this weekend. What are the chances of seeing the northern lights??
Well, there's always a chance Kathy. Space Weather (a great site!) says that things are pretty quiet right now, but that can always change. Try and go out at 11 PM or so and if you don't see anything, have another look at 1 AM.
Saw Northern Lights last night between 10-11 p.m. They were everywhere but the western sky. Beautiful!
Going to visit the Munising/Marquette area about the 3rd week of August. What are my chances of see the northern lights? Is there an area where my chances are better?
Munising/Marquette is a great place to start - if you can get out of town (say Big Bay or Pictured Rocks) your chances are even better!
Scientists expose mystery behind northern lights from lsj.com
Continue reading
Heading up to Port Huron next week, is it possible to see the Northern Lights there around that area? Any suggestions where they might visible? Thanks!
Or anywhere else during the next few weeks too. Thanks again!
Hey Tamar, Port Huron is a little south for reliable Northern Lights viewing. While you certainly can see them in Port Huron at times, you really need to get to the UP.
how far up north in mich. do i have to go to see some really neat northern lights???? marcia
Hi, you can see them anywhere in Michigan, but to really get the best lights, the Superior shore in the Upper Peninsula is ideal!
In 1997 I was driving home to Hammond Bay, on Lake Huron from a party in Indian River, MI. As I rounded a corner going around the east side of Black Lake, I saw the northern lights over the Lake. I stopped my car in this open area and watched this unbelievable site. It was summer time around 2 am. What a time not to have a camera in the car! The colors danced acrossed the sky over the lake. Bright colors dancing in and out. I'm a great grandmother and I don't do drugs but this was really wild. I have no idea how long I sat there & watched...I didn't want it to end. I was told by my friend up north that in the summer late at night just south of the Mackinac Bridge a lot of viewings of the northern lights were common. I guess I was just never up that late at night before!
I live down near Detroit. Anyone know if I will be able to catch the Northern Lights from here? If so, what months would be the best time to start looking?
Thanks!
You're at the far south of where you can see the lights most times, but you see the lights most often in the later fall and winter months. I believe it's dues to the tilt of the access.
In terms of time, 10 pm - 3 am is when I've seen them most often.
Northern Lights Forecast: Predicting the Aurora Borealis in Michigan on Michigan in Pictures has information about how you can forecast auroral displays in Michigan - really cool!
Also just got a tip on a cool aurora alert service you can subscribe to for email or mobile alerts.
We finally seen the Nothern Lights on Feb 14, 2009! Our first time and we should be able to see them again on Feb 24th & March 3rd.
We live 1 hr north of detroit.
Anyone else catch them?
Was up between Pinconning and Standish about an hour ago (midnight) and despite the more than sporadic cloud cover I got to see some of the Aurora. The displays were so strong that it was showing through even the thick clouds. Unfortunately I was with some non-enthusiasts and my viewing might have lasted two minutes at best. This probably would be my third or fourth time seeing them up there in the past 10 years (and in my life for that matter.) I wish I could have stayed longer (I wasn't the one driving through.)
Will be in Munising on 7/31, 8/1 and 8/2 then in Copper Harbor 8/3 - 8/6. Are my chances of seeing the lights good and is there a specific area better than others?
Tonight. Howell mi. All over. The northern lights are just warming up
In Eaton Rapids, MI I swear you could see a very faint bit of the northern lights tonight. No color, just the pattern in the sky.
Seeing the northern lights just north of Perry, MI strongest in the western sky, but visible all over. Looks mostly white and streaky, a few streaks of red. First time the kids saw it - a real treat! 8:50PM
I am in Bancroft, MI. been watching for about an hour, very cool!! Tried to take pic but it didnt turn out, its to dark.
I am in Pleasant Lake and the Northern Lights are quite vivid. There are also streaks of light to the East and West, mostly white.
On the drive from Eaton Rapids to Jackson and back the northern lights were amazing. They were all over. North, South, East and West. I wasn't sure at first what they were, because of seeing them in all directions. Never seen anything quite like it.
Finally....some verification of what myself and the rest of the family was looking at. I'm in Hartland and saw them everywhere but the northwest direction last night. Then this morning on the way to work, to the north and north east only. Saw single shafts of vertical light streaks mostly with a few areas that were "brush stroked" also, completely vertical. My kids also saw them for the first time.
Unfortunately, I wasn't looking for them last night; however, I did see some very fascinating colors in the sky this morning around 8:00 AM while driving my son to a scouting activity in Lake Orion, MI. They were mostly in the east and slightly on either side of the rising sun. The lights were very similar to the colors in a rainbow, but were short, vertical shafts and did not form an arch like a rainbow does. They were so beautiful and unusual that I felt compelled to do a quick Google, which led me to this site! I will be sure to look for them again later this evening. God is the Master Artist. Earth is His canvas, Nature his paintbrush.
Amazing light show last night (10-16-09)! Light all around us, streaks, spikes, curtains. Live way out in the country (Mason)with no ambient light around and could walk the fields with no flashlights.
These also caught my eye last night as well. I first saw the streaks when leaving Hanover from a football game. They were mainly in the west at first, which seemed unusual to me. I pulled off into a field to observe. Upon returning home I made my way back to the middle of a farm field and watched for about an hour. They were popping up in all directions. I think it turned out to be ice crystals reflecting ground light and not aurora borealis. Still very cool though.
Oct 16, 2009, Chelsea Michigan at 8:52PM We began to observe vertical light lines at all compass point directions from just above horizon to later on about 10:30 PM large lines overarching the sky. There was no color, curtaining or any of the usual display that comes with northen lights. The lines varied in brightness and length. Could this be contrails turning to ice crystals from very high altitude flights? Today, Oct 17, 2009 Numerous contrails were visible in the sky during daylight. They seemed very stable as if the upper altitude winds were were very slow. Clouds below these contrails were moving more quickly. We over 50(age)sky watchers all agreed that we have never seen anything like this before in the night or day sky. Has there been increased clandestine Military flight action in Michigan? We did not feel that this was all nature. Any ideas?
We live in Grass Lake on Wolf lake. Tonight my neighbor called to ask me to look outside.
Nice colors but no curtain. What a beautiful sight.
On December 22 at about 9pm, driving North on M52 out of Chelsea I saw a whole bunch of faint vertical columns of light beginning high up in the clouds and tapering off into the sky. They weren't moving. When I first saw one I stopped and watched it for a few minutes.
Later, closer to Stockbridge, I started seeing more of them, and when I turned to look at one in the east I hit a deer
I didn't have time to brake. Poor deer.
They lights were cool though. My friends saw them too, when I got home.
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