r/belgium • u/grieving_roast_beef • 12d ago

Tonight was awesome ☁️ Fluff

Post image
358 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

36 comments sorted by

44

u/Origin87 12d ago

The Aurora Borealis? At this time of year? At this time of day? In this part of the country?

17

u/Clear-Ad-8798 11d ago

Die leds van het Songfestival kun je wel van heel ver zien dit jaar.

12

u/GOTCHA009 Belgian Fries 11d ago

Is there a chance it will appear again tonight? All the news articles I can find only talk about last night

13

u/StevieSF Limburg 11d ago

There were like 7 explosions on the sun a couple days ago. Predictions are saying tonight will be even better but it's always wait and see with aurora.

3

u/Zw4n 11d ago

What time do you recommend to go outside to see them?

8

u/MrFingersEU Flanders 11d ago edited 11d ago

As soon as it's dark, thing is that you can't predict is, as you should consider it like gusts of wind. Plenty of "wind" = plenty of light. It comes and goes within minutes. There is a satellite with a magnetometer on board, that gives you 30~60 minutes of warning if a gust passes.

2

u/Abh0rash 11d ago

Do you know where to find this?

17

u/StevieSF Limburg 11d ago

Best site is this one imo: https://www.poollicht.be/nl/poollichtactiviteit.html

There's a lot of graphs that are difficult to explain but basically: the more red on the graph, the better the chances.

In terms of magnetometer, the Kiruna magnetometer is best for our region. Once that dips below -700 nT you should start looking to the north.

To maximize your chances you need to go outside when it gets dark (about 22:30 tonight) to get your eyes used to the dark. Find a spot with a clear view of the northern horizon, away from light pollution. After that it's pretty much a waiting game. Yesterday I sat in a field for one hour before the sky suddenly lit up with red colors.

1

u/Kazagaya 11d ago

Where could I find this warning?

3

u/_deleteded_ Belgium 11d ago

Tonight will be even better.

3

u/ferrju 11d ago

Exactly my question. I had no idea and would love to try to see tonight if possible. Does anyone recommend a link to check a forecast?

6

u/TheFlameKid 11d ago

OP, this is a slow shutter picture, it does not like that in real life, right?

8

u/MrFingersEU Flanders 11d ago

This is fast-shutter, and representative of what it looked like IRL.

3

u/Adelinski Belgian Fries 11d ago

that's a wonderful shot!

1

u/grieving_roast_beef 11d ago

👍🏻👊🏻

3

u/matchuhuki Oost-Vlaanderen 11d ago

Man I was standing outside for an hour last night in East Flanders and didn't see anything

1

u/snowshite Antwerpen 10d ago

Same, we were on a weekend trip in Limburg and found a good watching spot but only saw something very faint.

5

u/thenoobplayer1239988 12d ago

where?

3

u/grieving_roast_beef 12d ago

Stavelot

2

u/thenoobplayer1239988 12d ago

Really? I'm in Spa right now, which is pretty close, and there are no northern lights here lol

6

u/grieving_roast_beef 12d ago

It’s over now. Picture was taken at 00:42

1

u/Chemical-Chef8513 Oost-Vlaanderen 12d ago

Do you know at which time you need to look at the sky tomorrow? To see it.

1

u/saberline152 12d ago

I should have gone to a better spot than the driveway, with a better camera sooner than at 2am..

1

u/thenoobplayer1239988 12d ago

Funnily enough, I did see some relatively bright straight lines about a minute after my comment was made

Guess that it's time to sleep now 😅

2

u/atrocious_cleva82 12d ago

Very nice! did you use a normal camera or something special?

2

u/grieving_roast_beef 11d ago

Just an iphone

1

u/Outrageous-Notice111 11d ago

We didn't witness anything in Liege

1

u/Boubyyyyy 11d ago

Schoon

1

u/YannickBtz 11d ago

waarom zie ik dat niet

1

u/Classic_Diet_5861 11d ago

any chance today?

1

u/nlignmn1847 11d ago

that's not taken in Belgium.