"Aurora Coolness" by XKCD comic - Cartoonist Randall shares his experience with attempts and observations of aurora, many hours watching and only minutes at a time for the best views. But the best aurora views won't happen without going out and trying for a look. xkcd.com/3196/ #SpaceWeather #aurora #AuroraBorealis #AuroraAustralis #astronomy
Good thing I woke up and checked the aurora in the middle of the night. Kp=8 storm level! Just like in May 2024, I could see aurora while driving on I-84 before reaching the viewing points. I got aurora pictures from near I-84 east of Portland at Multnomah Falls and a vista point at Corbett. But the Columbia River Gorge was clouded over at Bonneville Dam and Cascade Locks. So I turned around. #SpaceWeather #aurora #AuroraBorealis #astronomy #weather #ORwx #PNW
![XKCD comic #3196 "Aurora Coolness" https://xkcd.com/3196/
explanation from ExplainXCKD wiki https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3196:_Aurora_Coolness
transcript:
A graph of “aurora coolness” over many hours. The coolness starts at “visible glow on the horizon, color only visible in photos” and gradually moves up and down to “spectacular ribbons of color spanning the sky and illuminating the landscape”, which is is labeled “5 or 10 minutes”, then gradually goes back down, almost getting all the way up, and eventually ending back at “visible glow on the horizon, color only visible in photos”.
Title text: I've had countless nights where the line never left the bottom zone of the graph, but the few moments where it's climbed all the way to the top have made up for them all.
explanation (truncated to fit alt-text):
The graph in this comic reports events during an aurora rated on 'coolness' over time, and shows that truly interesting events are fairly frequent, but often short-lived and not predictable. Both the caption and the title text encourage the viewer of an aurora to be patient with the 'boring' stuff, as more exciting events could happen with little or no notice. The caption gives general advice, while the title text reports Randall's own experiences.
The comic was published at around the time when low-latitude auroras were particularly anticipated to be visible, and may even have been displaying themselves to Randall in the immediate run-up to publication[...]](https://friendica.hellquist.eu/photo/preview/640/5398260 "XKCD comic #3196 \"Aurora Coolness\" https://xkcd.com/3196/
explanation from ExplainXCKD wiki https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3196:_Aurora_Coolness
transcript:
A graph of “aurora coolness” over many hours. The coolness starts at “visible glow on the horizon, color only visible in photos” and gradually moves up and down to “spectacular ribbons of color spanning the sky and illuminating the landscape”, which is is labeled “5 or 10 minutes”, then gradually goes back down, almost getting all the way up, and eventually ending back at “visible glow on the horizon, color only visible in photos”.
Title text: I've had countless nights where the line never left the bottom zone of the graph, but the few moments where it's climbed all the way to the top have made up for them all.
explanation (truncated to fit alt-text):
The graph in this comic reports events during an aurora rated on 'coolness' over time, and shows that truly interesting events are fairly frequent, but often short-lived and not predictable. Both the caption and the title text encourage the viewer of an aurora to be patient with the 'boring' stuff, as more exciting events could happen with little or no notice. The caption gives general advice, while the title text reports Randall's own experiences.
The comic was published at around the time when low-latitude auroras were particularly anticipated to be visible, and may even have been displaying themselves to Randall in the immediate run-up to publication[...]")
