Now that my "career" in APL will be taking me up over the Northern Atlantic and in some cases over the Arctic circle, I'm wondering has anyone tried out the Aurora Borealis add-on I saw in the marketplace? Is it worth a purchase or does it look a bit naff?

With the coefficients changing recently it might be a good time to test it out.

2 hours ago, El Diablito said:

Now that my "career" in APL will be taking me up over the Northern Atlantic and in some cases over the Arctic circle, I'm wondering has anyone tried out the Aurora Borealis add-on I saw in the marketplace? Is it worth a purchase or does it look a bit naff?

With the coefficients changing recently it might be a good time to test it out.

I don't have it, but people who do say full realism is difficult due to a limitation of the sim.  The way they have had to implement the effect, it also appears below the clouds so it isn't realistic.  So I decided not to buy it.

Asobo are looking at it for MSFS2024, but no promises. 
I would have preferred the Aurora effect before things like tornado's, but then you can't really do a mission around Aurora, so I understand why they have done Tornado's first.

When they do Aurora, I hope they get to do jets and sprites also (which pilots have been seeing for years). 
And Steve - don't forget Steve!  You might have to look that up but we had Steve over the UK a few nights ago.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STEVE

 

Edited November 8, 20232 yr by bobcat999

The milky way 🎵

18 minutes ago, grandfred29 said:

The milky way 🎵

yes.  All the starts in general I think.  In FSX, with the upgraded freeware stars.dat file and Steve's DX10 fixer, we had all the right stars in all the right places, at the right magnitudes and colours, and they even twinkled at random thanks to Steve.  And they were like little bright pin heads, not the fuzzy blobs we have now.  Best night sky effect I had ever seen.  So MSFS2024 has some catching up to do.

1 hour ago, bobcat999 said:

The way they have had to implement the effect, it also appears below the clouds so it isn't realistic.

I hoped not to hear this. I may gamble and go for it on the off chance there isn't clouds. I was at 82N this morning and heading East and there wasn't a cloud in the sky, would've been the perfect scenario.

I bought it quite some time back but never saw it until yesterday when flying over the updated Greenland. What I saw was periodically a greenish shimmering blob outside my left window. It would remain a moment or two and then be gone. Not like the lights I remember as a boy growing up in Canada.

My take so far?  Meh…

-B

47 minutes ago, btacon said:

I bought it quite some time back but never saw it until yesterday when flying over the updated Greenland. What I saw was periodically a greenish shimmering blob outside my left window. It would remain a moment or two and then be gone. Not like the lights I remember as a boy growing up in Canada.

My take so far?  Meh…

-B

must flying above the 60th parallel for random appear ...

Continuous Global Coverage: Explore the world's most renowned locations for viewing the Northern Lights. Aurora Borealis: Northern Lights spans across various geographical regions from 60°N to 83°N latitude, enabling you to chase the Aurora from the Arctic Circle to Iceland, Canada, Norway, and beyond. Each location offers a unique backdrop and atmospheric conditions for an immersive experience.

 

Reactive and Dynamic Seasonal Coverage: Watch the Aurora Borealis make an appearance in latitudes further south, from 55°N to 60°N during the winter months of December, January, February, and March, on numerically odd numbered calendar dates, without the presence of rain or snow.

2 minutes ago, iliasr said:

must flying above the 60th parallel for random appear ..

Pretty confident Greenland qualifies😎. I hope it gets better, it could be a great addition for night flight. 
-B

Double post

Edited November 8, 20232 yr by btacon
Double post

6 hours ago, iliasr said:

must flying above the 60th parallel for random appear ...

Continuous Global Coverage: Explore the world's most renowned locations for viewing the Northern Lights. Aurora Borealis: Northern Lights spans across various geographical regions from 60°N to 83°N latitude, enabling you to chase the Aurora from the Arctic Circle to Iceland, Canada, Norway, and beyond. Each location offers a unique backdrop and atmospheric conditions for an immersive experience.

 

Reactive and Dynamic Seasonal Coverage: Watch the Aurora Borealis make an appearance in latitudes further south, from 55°N to 60°N during the winter months of December, January, February, and March, on numerically odd numbered calendar dates, without the presence of rain or snow.

In Manitoba, Canada, from 53'N beginning in August sometime they are common. I flew forest fire suppression based in The Pas (CYQD) for a lot of years. We'd be there till late August/early September. Generally green.

They're quite pronounced in the addon version. Not like I saw on flights over northern Canada and Alaska. Most of the time they're faint and greenish. It almost looks like a high moonlit cirrus layer. Sometimes they were pronounced, but they didn't move very quickly. The weird thing is, because it's so dark, there's really no frame of reference, so you can't really tell if they're moving or not. It's hard to explain. The addon version has a lot of colors and movement, quite a bit more than what I saw in real life.