by Aurorasaurus and Friends Last month we received a letter with some GREAT questions from a class of Manitoba 4th graders! Below we have compiled some answers, along with details and resources for teachers and caregivers to help students dive in further. For some questions, we asked our science and museum colleagues. Scientists know a lot… Read More »Asking Questions—Like Scientists!
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
The plucky subauroral phenomenon STEVE (Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement) has struck again! Teamwork between citizen scientists and scientists Joshua Semeter, Michael Hunnekuhl, Elizabeth MacDonald, Michael Hirsch, Neil Zeller, Alexei Chernenkoff, and Jun Wang, has led to new information and new mysteries about features in STEVE’s dapper green picket fence structure. The team’s work—which includes… Read More »Aurora-Chasing Citizen Scientists Help Discover A New Feature of STEVE
My backstory with the Aurora and Aurorasaurus The moment I saw my first aurora is forever ingrained in my memory. The Halloween Storms of 2003 left the night skies above my Minnesota house dancing with green and purple lights, and seeing them at four years old as I walked down my neighborhood street, trick-or-treating with… Read More »Sharing the story: Aurorasaurus Intern Vince
Guest post by Aurorasaurus Ambassador Jeremy Kuzub This article is the second of three about how researchers and citizen scientists record and explore years of auroral activity using all-sky cameras, keograms, and software visualizations. The first post is available here. Looking Up The first step in aurora borealis research is just looking up at the night… Read More »Eyes on the Aurora, Part 2: What is a Keogram?
by Kasha Patel Reposted from NASA Earth Observatory Every summer in the Northern Hemisphere, electric blue streaks form high in the atmosphere. These seasonal clouds typically lurk about 80 kilometers (50 miles) overhead in the mesosphere around the Arctic, but every once in a while they form at lower latitudes. In 2019, the clouds showed up in places where… Read More »Another Lively Season of Night-Shining Clouds
Guest post by Vincent Ledvina
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!