What an incredible storm we had November 11-13, 2025! We have been so excited to see the beautiful pictures and thrilling sightings you had from all over the world! We have an amazing community, and we are so grateful for every report. We are also often approached by aurora chasers who ask, “What are you… Read More »A wish list for aurora reports
Since the May 10-11 aurora superstorm, a frequent question we have received is “what makes a good report? What makes a good photo?” While all reports are amazing, the answer may surprise you! In this post we’ll walk you through things to include, go behind the scenes on how data is cleaned for scientific use,… Read More »What goes into an Aurorasaurus report, and what can we learn together?
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!
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
Please excuse the slight delay in posting this while we underwent tech updates on our blog. While our favorite quirky purple arc has been observed for millennia, we want to celebrate one highlight in its relationship with humanity. STEVE (“Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement”) is a purplish arc with stripy green ray features that runs… Read More »Celebrating STEVE and You!
Citizen scientists can not only contribute to discoveries, but they can also bring their unique skills to bear to make discoveries of their own and create powerful tools to advance open science. Dr. Michael Hunnekuhl is one such innovator. Among atmospheric phenomena, STEVE (which stands for “Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement”) is one of those… Read More »Meeting STEVE Around the World
There’s nothing quite like the disappointment when a promising CME fizzles out, or when clouds obscure the sky during a magnificent aurora display (we feel for you in the Pacific Northwest!) Experienced aurora chasers point out that such fickleness is part of the excitement, and that’s true! The reason that the question “when can I… Read More »Negative Aurora Reports Are a Plus For Science!
This has been quite the year. But while Aurorasaurus staff attended an online version of the American Geophysical Union conference, the biggest conference in the space physics field, one thing stayed the same: we were blown away by the work our colleagues have done! Here’s a roundup to share with readers of the amazing presentations… Read More »From Science to Society and the Sun to the Earth: An AGU 2021 Roundup