Astronomy/Northern lights

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Expert: Jesse Martinez - 2/28/2010


Question
I have friends that moved to Oklahoma a few years back. Before that they lived here in McAllen Texas, near the Mexican border at the very south. They say they have seen the northern lights on occasion in the past few years. Is it possible to see them from that location? I have been around the world in my 60 years and have only seen them once, on an ocean cruise to Alaska. It was a spectacular sight. What they describe to me seems to be possible light pollution, sky glow, or some other atmospheric phenomenon, but not Aurora Borealis. Is it possible or impossible to see them from Oklahoma city?

Answer
Hi Lita from McAllen Texas. I know your city.

I lived in Edinburg and other places in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas for many years. I can say for a fact that I have seen the Aurora Borealis from this area. In the mid 1980's I was out at a bar outside of Mission, about ten or fifteen miles west of McAllen when I saw it. At about 10:30 P.M. I arrived at the place which was in the country, but still within the skyglow of McAllen. I saw something in the northern sky. I went to the back of the bar, out of the glare of the parking lot lights and saw it. The aurora was beautiful although a bit faint. The predominant color was green, with a touch of yellow-orange. This was the only time I have ever seen them, so I can't really say if it was faint or not. This particular occurrence was reported to have been seen in Jamaica, which is about ten degrees farther south than McAllen.

I am sure that it is possible to see them from Oklahoma City as well. Your friends are not pulling your leg. It is an infrequent occurrence at that latitude, but not impossible. If you were in McAllen at the time, I'm sorry you missed it. But for all I know, you might have been on that Alaskan cruise at the time! Thanks for the opportunity to assist you with this question. Call on me anytime.

Your humble expert,
Jesse

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Jesse Martinez

Expertise

General and specific questions about the solar system and stellar and galactic astronomy, are what I can easily answer off the top of my head. For example, what is the largest planet in the solar system? How far away is the moon? Have there been any confirmed planets in orbit around stars other than the sun? How many stars are there? The tougher ones like explaining the big bang theory and black holes I will leave to the PhD’s. Even though I could muster an answer, I would have to research it more than I would like. I would also like to answer questions that involve Astronomy with other sciences, chemistry, biology, physics, geology and mathematics as long as they are not PhD level.

Experience

I have been into astronomy since I was 8 years old. I have kept detailed journals of my observations through small telescopes. Over the years I have participated in amateur observation projects for organizations like ALPO. My personal research has involved "discovering" the moons of Jupiter with a 4½-inch Newtonian reflector without any outside information like charts and tables. In a summer long project, I determined the existence of and plotted the orbits of the four major moons of Jupiter. From these observations, my data on orbital elements was surprisingly accurate (orbital radius and orbital period).

Education/Credentials
80 hours of college credits while studying physics and geophysics. Completed correspondence photography course while in high school. Took two semesters of electronics training at a community college. Studied computers and graduated from a technical school at the turn of the millennium, gaining A+ and Microsoft Certified Professional credentials. Hablo Español. Si quieres preguntar en Español, estoy a su servicio.

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