During Covid-19, insurance companies paid Pediatricians a $40,000 bonus for fully vaccinating 100 patients under the age of 2. If your doctor managed to fully vaccinate 200 patients, the bonus jumped to $80,000. However, Pediatricians would lose the whole bonus unless at least 63% of patients are fully vaccinated.
They essentially bribed physicians to inject dangerous pharmaceutical products into children.
And this is why they would “remove” you from their practice. If you decline, you could interfere with their bonus.
This. No one will stop you, but if you post faked/composited/AI aurora photos from this last storm just to get on top of the algorithm, that's sad and you will lose my respect. The aurora is beautiful already, so why can't we embrace it for what it is?
This storm hit the mainstream media and general public more than any other space weather event EVER. Sharing photos is a great way to highlight the beauty of our natural world and encourage others to look more closely at space weather and its impacts.
If someone got a "better" shot than you, it happens. That's life. The point of landscape and astrophotography is that it takes work to get the right conditions, frame up the milky way perfectly with landmarks, etc.
Sitting in front of your computer and photoshopping a photo of aurora from Norway in front of Delicate Arch just to get some engagement only reflects on your laziness, lack of integrity, and clear thirst for likes and attention.
AI artwork, composites, and oversaturated photos of the night sky are fine, but they need to be shared with EXPLICIT disclaimers that what is being shown is physically impossible and not true-to-life. This is already an issue with aurora photography in general, since the colors and details of long exposure photos are usually not visible to the naked eye.
Just some ramblings, but we need to look at our community and watch the reactions. See who is embellishing for views/engagement. Are they really doing this for the "art" of photography, or is it all just marketing?
While we will probably NOT see Kp 9 conditions or a repeat of Friday/Saturday nights, solar wind speed is still very elevated.
This could push aurora down to mid latitudes, mainly the Canadian border states, with short-lived bursts of horizon activity further south of that.
Beware the fake aurora photos being posted to capitalize on the hype train.
These are composite blends, and the aurora could never look like that from those locations.
They’re pretty artwork, but completely unrealistic and just a sad attempt at milking some engagement.
This video features a spectacular global coronal wave, the lower part of a shock wave driven by the fast halo CME. This event was also associated with an X5.8 flare from AR 13664, the second largest flare in solar cycle 25. The proton event had a quick rise and a hard spectrum.
By the way, the Dst index (quick look) hit -412 nT, the first time to go below -400 nT since 20 November 2003.
The solar wind data are already messy, making it hard to understand the evolution after the first shock arrival at ~16:30 on 10 May 2024.
Absolutely biblical skies in Tasmania at 4am this morning. I’m leaving today and knew I could not pass up this opportunity for such a large solar storm. Here’s the image. I actually had to de-saturate the colours. Clouds glowing red. Insane. Shot on Nikon. Rt appreciated
BIGGEST FLARE YET - X5.8
Folks, we're not done yet.
Only 3 of 6 eruptions have struck, we hit level 5 solar storm conditions and we may have a 7th blast on its way.
TONIGHT'S AURORA+CLOUDS FORECAST:
We could potentially see the strongest solar storm impact since 2003/2005 as several solar storms launched from several days ago combine before reaching Earth. Our aurora visibility forecast shows aurora viewing possible north of the red line, with overhead viewing possible in the northern U.S. states. Closer to but north of the red line, viewing will likely only be possible on the northern horizon and/or with sensitive camera equipment. Locations south of the red line may have a more difficult time seeing aurora.
Clouds look to be best in the central and western portions of the country, and clouds may obscure viewing across the Great Lakes, Mid-Atlantic, and Northeast regions.
As the solar storm is expected to impact Earth in the next few hours, viewing may last all night tonight but will be most favorable during periods of higher geomagnetic activity (when the southward component of the magnetic field is the greatest).
For beginning observers, keep an eye on the Kp index which updates every 3 hours: https://t.co/Iiv800RpUE
More advanced observers wishing to utilize the solar wind data can see that here: https://t.co/noBvPCmCaG
For the first time since the Halloween Solar Storms of 2003 we have now officially reached the Extreme G5 geomagnetic storm threshold at 22:54 UTC.
With an observed Dst at -348 this is now one of the all-time strongest geomagnetic storms of the modern era only rivaled by the Halloween Solar Storms of 2003 and the 1989 storm that knocked out power grids in Quebec.
You are witnessing space weather history today... and it isn't over yet. Sky watchers in the USA, this is your ultimate chance to see aurora from states like California and Texas. Do not miss out on this opportunity!