On February 24, running through March 10, 2022, the watch begins for the perfect opportunity to launch a sounding rocket into a common but rarely-viewed type of aurora: the pulsating aurora. The NASA Loss through Auroral Microburst Pulsations (LAMP) mission will send instruments high above the auroral light. Read on to find out what the… Read More »Be a Rocket Citizen Scientist: Help Study Pulsating Aurora!
by Laura Brandt (with lots of help from Dr. Liz!) Since joining Aurorasaurus, I have learned a lot about auroras and the ways aurora chasers and scientists describe them. I’ve been taking notes and want to share my list of key terms—by a newbie, for newbies, and reviewed by a subject matter expert—as a big… Read More »PANTS ON: A Newbie’s Guide to Aurora Terms
Laura here! I am an aurora enthusiast, but new to the science side. Fortunately, the Aurorasaurus blog and website are full of great resources that I’ll be sharing out as I cultivate my knowledge. One of these is the Space Weather Data page, a graph that shows the strength of solar wind power. In short,… Read More »Laura Learns Aurora: I’ve Got the Power!
Noctlilucent, or “night-shining” cloud season is around the solstice for most places, but it’s a little later in the first two weeks of August, when darkness returns, for noctilucent cloud season at high latitudes! “Noctilucent clouds gleam in late-summer evenings as if they’re lit from within, but it’s sunlight that makes them shine. They look… Read More »Noctilucent Classics
Guest blog post. Dr. Minna Palmroth is Professor of Computational Space Physics and the Director of the Finnish Centre of Excellence in Research of Sustainable Space at the University of Helsinki, Finland. On June 15, 2020, Dr. Palmroth gave a presentation to the Aurorasaurus Ambassadors about the discovery of dune aurora, viewable on our YouTube… Read More »The discovery of the auroral dunes: How one thing led to another
Guest post by Aurorasaurus Ambassador Hugo Sanchez One of the things we love about the Aurorasaurus community is the wealth and variety of experience in aurora chasing. Each chaser has unique expertise to share, and while with so many locations around the world no aurora chasing guide is one size fits all, each provides useful… Read More »Chasing the Northern Lights!
In 2020, Aurorasaurus partnered with NASA’s STEAM Innovation Lab and NASA’s Magnetosphere Multiscale Mission (MMS) to design and create the world’s first 3D printed magnetosphere model. We have just released the beta version (1.0) and are excited for educators, Makers, Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), and the general public to beta test it on printers and… Read More »The Earth’s Magnetosphere—3D Printed!
Amateur Radio for Students and the General Public By Laura Brandt (museum educator), Connie Atkisson (teacher), and Liz MacDonald (scientist) Last fall, Dr. Liz and Laura got their Technician (entry-level) ham radio licenses as part of auditing a class for teachers, grad students, and undergrads on The Physics of Ham Radio taught by Rice University… Read More »Ham it Up—On the Air!
Laura here! I am an aurora enthusiast, but new to the science side. Fortunately, the Aurorasaurus blog and website are full of great resources that I’ll be sharing out as I cultivate my knowledge. You’re bundled up in warmth and ready to aurora-watch, and you hear the Kp index is 6. Is that a good… Read More »Laura Learns Aurora: Kp Index
Guest post by Jeremy Kuzub Attending AGU 20? Jeremy will be presenting Keogramist as a poster in The MacGyver Session: The Place for Novel, Exciting, Self-Made, Hacked, or Improved Sensors and Software Solutions to Understand Space Weather eLightning on December 15, 2020 at 6:00 AKT/7:00 PT/8:00 MT/9:00 CT/10:00 ET/15:00 UTC. There will be a Q&A element, so bring any questions… Read More »Eyes on the Aurora, Part 3: Exploring Over a Thousand Nights of Aurora on Your Phone