by Laura Edson, MAT in Museum Education A question we have received more and more at Aurorasaurus is, “Do you have any suggestions for presenting auroras to the public?” The aurora is a really fun topic to share; it is instantly engaging and technically challenging, artistically beautiful and scientifically fascinating. But it can also be… Read More »Presenting Auroras: Three Lessons from Museum Education
Auroras are made when particles bump into atoms and molecules in the Earth’s upper atmosphere, giving them energy. The atoms and molecules then give off that energy as light in specific colors: red, green, blue, and pink. But why on rare occasions do auroras seem to have yellow, cyan, or purple in them? In this… Read More »Why do auroras sometimes look yellow?
We often talk about the altitudes of aurora colors, but it can feel difficult to get a sense for just how high up the Northern and Southern Lights shine. Sometimes they seem to glow at vast distances high up in the sky, and sometimes they feel close, almost within reach. While we discuss auroral altitudes… Read More »HelioCrafts: Aurora Altitudes Hat
One of the questions we get most often is, “how can I see the aurora?” The answer is surprisingly complicated and can be difficult to explain to students. In order to help explain, we made a collaborative, role-playing card game! With a special deck of printable cards and a dash of imagination, players work together… Read More »Aurora Chasers: The Game!
One of the challenges of learning about aurora science is that so much is invisible or abstract. Fortunately, it’s not hard to make models of some concepts out of easy-to-find materials. In this post, we walk you through two easy do-it-yourself (DIY) projects that use nothing fancier than chenille stems (also called pipecleaners), paper, markers,… Read More »Fuzzy, Crafty Models of Aurora Science (Literally!)
Hi! Laura here. Over the past two years, I’ve been learning about the world of heliophysics—the science of the Sun and its relationship with the planets, which includes the auroras. Aurora science gets very abstract very quickly, so as someone without a science background I’ve found it helpful to build models of some of the… Read More »HelioCrafts: Aurora Color Earrings
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!
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
Aurora citizen science often involves gazing at the sky outdoors, but there is a lot of learning and citizen science that can be done from home! In this post, we have compiled some resources for families, students, and aurora enthusiasts. Best of all, we are here for you if you have questions on this material—tweet… Read More »Exploring Aurora from Home
Each year, Goddard Space Flight Center holds a collegial poster party for scientists and engineers to showcase their ongoing research. One of the award categories is “Best Science as Food.” What better opportunity to try ideas for hands-on education? Aurorasaurus and our colleagues Dr. Anne-Marie Novo-Gradac and Dr. Kevin Novo-Gradac decided to represent the Heliophysics department by coming up… Read More »Nerdy Science Recipes for Your Next Party!