We’re still glowing over May’s auroras, and are excited to welcome those around the world who have newly fallen in love with the Northern and Southern Lights! One of the questions we have been receiving is, “where can I learn more?” Bibliophiles, we’ve got your back. In 2022, we wrote a post about some aurora… Read More »Cozy Aurora Reads
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
Note: this post contains discussion and imagery of solar eclipses. Few things are as awe-inspiring as the aurora or a solar eclipse. In just a few weeks, a total solar eclipse will cross North America, and provide a rare opportunity to connect with the natural world. In this post, we consider awe and hope to… Read More »Standing in awe of the universe
With special thanks to Dr. Janet Kozyra for her generous contributions to this post. After a big storm sends aurora to lower latitudes—southward in the Northern Hemisphere, and northward in the Southern Hemisphere—questions abound. One of the most common is “I thought the aurora was green. Why does it look red?” Red auroras have been… Read More »Why do auroras at lower latitudes look red?
As loved ones gathered to celebrate the winter holidays, we were thinking about the many relationships between aurora and aurora-like phenomena in the sky. In this post, we introduce the aurora and some of the amazing phenomena related to it, closely or distantly. If you have a photo and wonder which phenomena might be present… Read More »An Aurora Family Reunion
Guest post by Francesca Di Mare Plane travelers often hope for smooth flights without bumpy turbulence. Turbulence is a kind of chaotic motion in the flow of fluids that is constantly changing in characteristics like speed, energy, temperature, and more. It is full of different-sized swirls that mix things together and dissipate, or spread out,… Read More »Turbulence is everywhere – even in space!
By Vincent Ledvina and Laura Edson With many thanks to aurora photographer Marybeth Kiczenski for reviewing the post As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes more popular, many are using it to create content, including about auroras. While it can be useful, in a social media world that values speed, clicks, and engagement it can be hard… Read More »Keeping it Real: How to Spot a Fake Aurora Photo
Space weather—the everchanging conditions in space, influenced by the Sun—causes a range of different effects on Earth. These happen in many different timeframes for people, technologies, and societies. One such effect is the aurora: the Northern and Southern Lights. Usually, they occur in high-latitude rings around the North and South Poles called auroral ovals, but… Read More »When Can I See the Aurora?
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!
Humans have looked to the sky since time immemorial, and noticed a strange purplish arc with stripy green features that runs east to west and appears closer to the equator than regular aurora. In the mid-2010s, aurora chasers began to collectively photograph and speculate about the phenomenon, which did not yet have a formal scientific… Read More »What’s in a name? The meaning of STEVE