Citizen scientists reported seeing aurora in the midlands of England, the north coast of the Netherlands, and areas in the United States such as Maine, New York, Minnesota and North Dakota. Check out the pictures from the storm and a video showing citizen science reports from March 6, 2016 at 10am EST to March 7, 2016 at 3am EST.
Aurorasaurus founder Liz MacDonald shares her experience on hunting auroras in Iceland in December 2015
We have much reason to hope for excellent auroral viewing over the next few years. This is because we are progressing into the declining phase of the solar cycle. It sounds strange, but it’s true: the declining phase is the best time for regular auroral displays.
We sent out a survey to all of our users to learn more about them, how they use Aurorasaurus, and what they want from us in the future. Nearly 400 users responded so thank you to everyone who took the time to fill out the survey and share their experiences with us. Take a look at what we found out about our Aurorasaurus users!
With your citizen science observations, we’ve improved our map to provide you better alerts of aurora sightings near you, a more accurate view-line of where the aurora can be seen, and now included the Southern Lights!
We will explain the origins of one of more common measurements of geomagnetic activity, the Kp index, and compare it to the solar wind power that we talk about previously.
In our previous posts, we describe how the density, speed and magnetic field strength and direction of the solar wind are measured, what Bz is, and what those mean for the aurora. We also introduced a handy parameter called the solar wind power that combines all these measurements. Here, we provide more detail about the solar wind power that we use at Aurorasaurus.
We go into more detail about the role of magnetism in creating aurora and what “Bz” refers to.
What is the solar wind and what does it have to do with the aurora?
Surveying auroral emissions is a bit like looking at a giant television screen; the picture can help scientists figure out what is happening with energetic particles, and electromagnetic fields, from just above the Earth to far out in surrounding space. et’s talk about the space around our planet and some types of aurora.
