Northern Lights and a Proton Arc!

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Milky Way, A Proton Arc, and the Northern Lights

The Milky Way, A Proton Arc, and the Northern Lights!, photo by Eric Hackney

Last night I got a couple of texts that the northern lights were out. By the time I got to the beach here in northern lower Michigan, they had died back to a soft arc on the horizon. Up on the Keweenaw however, they were pretty spectacular!

In addition to being spectacular, Eric’s photos introduced me to a new northern lights term, the mysterious proton arc or proton aurora. which NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day explains in this link filled post (picture is below):

What are auroras made out of? Triggered by solar activity, normal auroras are caused by collisions between fast-moving electrons and the oxygen and nitrogen in Earth’s upper atmosphere. The electrons come from the magnetosphere, the region of space controlled by Earth’s magnetic field. As the excited oxygen and nitrogen molecules return to their low energy state, they emit light, seen as the auroral glow.

Sometimes, however, auroras can be caused by collisions with heavier protons, causing a more energetic display with strong ultraviolet emission. In addition, protons can temporarily capture an electron and emit light for themselves. Such a proton aurora is seen above, recorded by the IMAGE satellite. A special feature is the bright spot near picture center, embedded in a ring of auroral emission around the north magnetic pole of planet Earth.

Most solar wind protons never reach the Earth to cause auroras because they are completely deflected away at a great distance by the Earth’s magnetic field. The bright spot in the auroral ring indicates a particularly deep crack in the Earth’s magnetic field where protons were able to flow along a temporarily connected region between the Sun and the Earth, relatively undeflected, until they impacted the Earth’s ionosphere.

Read on for lots more. The good news? It looks like the wide coronal hole that was responsible for last night’s aurora will continue to kick out the celestial jams for a couple of days, meaning this weekend offers a great chance to see the northern lights in Michigan!

View Eric’s photo bigger and see more in his 9-1-16: Northern Lights IX slideshow.

Much more about the northern lights / aurora borealis on Michigan in Pictures!

Photo courtesy NASA:

Proton Arc Nasa

50 Shades of Blue

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50 Shades of Blue

50 Shades of Blue, photo by John Hill Photography

A simply gorgeous shot of Au Sable Point and the Au Sable Light Station in the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.

View this photo background big on Twitter and definitely follow John on Instagram!

Summer of ’16

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Black Rocks Summer of 16

Black Rocks, #1, Summer of ’16, photo by Lake Superior Photo

I don’t want to alarm anyone, but Labor Day Weekend is next weekend so if you haven’t gotten everything you want from the Summer of 2016, this might be a good time to work on that!

Shawn took this on Thursday at Black Rocks in Marquette. View her photo background bigtacular and definitely get yourself over to the Lake Superior Photo Facebook page for all kinds of Upper Peninsula goodness including this video of the Northern Lights from earlier this week!

PS: I feel I should link to Blackrocks Brewery as well so you don’t get confused and also because they brew some really wonderful beer!

PPS: Sorry this went out late – failed to mash the buttons in the proper order!!

PPPS: More waves, Marquette, summer wallpaper, and Lake Superior on Michigan in Pictures!

 

Scenic vista at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore

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Scenic vista at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore

Scenic vista at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, photo by Craig Sterken Photography

Craig writes “My wife and I hiked in the Beaver Basin area for the first time and discovered our new favorite hike. What a great place to swim after walking through the woods in 87 degree weather!

Can’t see how it could get much better!! View Craig’s photo bigger on Facebook and view & purchase his work at craigsterken.com.

Chapel Rock Revisit

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Chapel Revisit by Rudy Malmquist

Chapel Revisit, photo by Rudy Malmquist

View Rudy’s shot from August of 2014 background bigtacular and see more including a nice pic of nearby Spray Falls in his slideshow.

Lots more about Chapel Rock on Michigan in Pictures.

See for miles & miles at Pictured Rocks

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Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore by supernova9

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, photo by supernova9

Maybe if I looked at this view every day for 50 years I would get tired of the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.

Maybe.

View supernova9’s photo bigger and see more in his Michigan’s Upper Peninsula slideshow.

More Pictured Rocks on Michigan in Pictures.

Agate Beach in Grand Marais … and Lake Superior Agates

Posted on by farlane

Agate Beach Treasures Neil Weaver Photography

Agate Beach Treasures, photo by Neil Weaver Photography

Karen “Agatelady” Bryzs of the Gitchee Gumee Museum in Grand Marais shares a ton of information about Lake Superior Agates, part of a worldwide family of semi-precious gemstones that naturally develop when an empty pocket inside a host rock fills in with microcrystals, forming a totally unique pattern:

Most Lake Superior agates formed in a rift zone approximately 1.2 billion years ago. Rift zones are cracks in the Earth’s surface out of which molten lava flowed. Today, there are still rift zones at the bottom of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. The rift zone that created Lake Superior agates started in what is now northeast Kansas and continued northeast into what is now the western end of Lake Superior. This hot spot domed up lava several miles high and eventually choked itself off. If it would have continued, it could have split the North American continent in half.

She offers some tips from her book “Understanding and Finding Agates“:

  • Scan the beach and look for the Iron oxide red color.
  • Look for rocks that show evident concentric banding.
  • Check for possible entrance and/or escape channels that allowed gases or originally escape from the cavity, silica-rich water to enter, and pressure formed during the agate precipitation process to escape.
  • Search for rocks with conchoidal fractures that give the specimen a more angular, irregular shape.
  • When the angle of sun is low on the horizon, walk toward the sun and look a distance in front of you to look for the extremely translucent red carnelian agates.

Read on for lots more and definitely stop in the Gitchee Gumee Museum if you make it to Grand Marais! (done it, loved it!)

View Neil’s photo of agates near Grand Marais bigger, see more in his slideshow, and view and purchase his photos at neilweaverphotography.com.

Northern Lights Rewind: July 11th Edition

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Aurora Appears on Great Sand Bay

The Aurora Appears, photo by Eric Hackney

NOAA and the National Weather Service provide forecasts for the Northern Lights through the Space Weather Prediction Center. They have a Minor Watch in effect for this evening due to a “disturbance in the solar wind due to a recurrent positive polarity coronal hole high speed stream (CH HSS) is likely to cause minor geomagnetic storming.”

Pretty sure that Obi-wan Kenobi or Yoda is monitoring the situation as well. If you’d like to up your chances of seeing the northern lights, definitely try stepping outside around 10:30 PM (or later) and taking a look up. Their Aurora Alert email is a great resource as well, delivering timely emails that let you know when conditions are right for the aurora

Eric took this photo one year ago today on Great Sand Bay way up on the northern shore of Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula – could we get a repeat tonight?? View it bigger, see more from this night in his 7-11-15 Northern Lights III slideshow, and definitely follow Eric Hackney Photography on Facebook!

Much more about the northern lights on Michigan in Pictures!

Exotic Michigan: Beaver Creek Wilderness

Posted on by farlane

Pictured Rocks Beaver Basin

Beaver Basin Wilderness, photo by Michigan Nut Photography

The Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore says that the 11,740 acre Beaver Basin Wilderness was created in 2009 and:

…includes 13 miles of stunning Lake Superior shoreline from Spray Falls on the west to Sevenmile Creek on the east. The wilderness is some 3.5 miles deep.

The Beaver Basin Wilderness offers opportunities for quiet, solitude, wilderness recreation, and spiritual renewal. Individual and small group recreation is available along 8.4 miles of the North Country National Scenic Trail and 8.5 miles of connector trails as well as 6 backcountry campsites.

The area includes three beautifully clear lakes: Beaver Lake – 762 acres, Trappers Lake – 45 acres, Legion Lake – 35 acres and five cold water streams: Lowney Creek, Arsenault Creek, Sevenmile Creek, Little Beaver Creek, and Beaver Creek.

Click through for more including a map.

John writes that this is one of the exotic places you can go without a passport. Gotta love that about Michigan!! View the photo bigger, follow him on Facebook, and purchase it and other shots from one of Michigan’s coolest places in the Pictured Rocks gallery on his website. There’s a couple other photos of this feature including one from the cliffs above.

Here’s a video John took nearby too…

Along the Hiawatha Water Trail

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Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore from Water

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, photo by Paul Wojtkowski

Sorry this is a little late today and apologies to anyone who’s on Lake Superior/UP overload – today is my birthday and the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore is my favorite place in Michigan!

One of the items on my Michigan bucket list is to paddleboard or kayak the stretch of the Hiawatha Water Trail that passes through Pictured Rocks – or the whole thing! They say:

Gitche Gumee, the Ojibwa (Native American) name for Lake Superior, has inspired all who have stood on her shore or paddled her waters. Running 120 miles from Big Bay to Grand Marais Michigan on Lake Superior’s south shore, the Hiawatha Water Trail (HWT) follows a shoreline paddled by Native Americans, Voyageurs and early European explorers. Experience some of the most scenic paddling available in the Midwest at places such as Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Grand Island National Recreation Area, Hiawatha National Forest and other public lands. Stopping in at the communities of Big Bay, Marquette, Munising and Grand Marais, a paddler finds places filled with history and friendly people.

View Paul’s photo background bigtacular and see more in his slideshow.