What is Kp index?
We will explain the origins of one of more common measurements of geomagnetic activity, the Kp index, and compare it to the solar wind power that we talk about previously.
What is solar wind power?
In our previous posts, we describe how the density, speed and magnetic field strength and direction of the solar wind are measured, what Bz is, and what those mean for the aurora. We also introduced a handy parameter called the solar wind power that combines all these measurements. Here, we provide more detail about the solar wind power that we use at Aurorasaurus.
What do magnetic field strength and “Bz” have to do with the aurora?
We go into more detail about the role of magnetism in creating aurora and what “Bz” refers to.
What is the solar wind?
What is the solar wind and what does it have to do with the aurora?
Types of Aurora
Surveying auroral emissions is a bit like looking at a giant television screen; the picture can help scientists figure out what is happening with energetic particles, and electromagnetic fields, from just above the Earth to far out in surrounding space. et’s talk about the space around our planet and some types of aurora.
Space Weather Update- June 24th
On Monday, June 22, 2015 a number of coronal mass ejection (CME) events impacted Earth and, our plots of solar wind power showed a very high likelihood for strong aurora activity on Monday evening and Tuesday morning– and citizen scientists caught all the action!
Space Weather Forecast- June 22nd
On Friday, two separate CME events were detected and projected to reach the Earth at some point later in the weekend. Be on the lookout tonight for a possibility of strong aurora activity Monday evening/Tuesday morning (June 22nd and 23rd)!
Aurorasaurus Attends Space Weather Bootcamp!
Aurorasaurus intern Sean McCloat explains what he learned by attending an rigorous Space Weather Bootcamp at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
A new look at the Earth’s sky through the eyes of a radio telescope
Radio astronomers are gearing up for a new generation of radio telescopes that will be based on radically new design concepts: a wide field of view and a high-fidelity snapshot capability. One such instrument is the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA), a radio telescope in the Australian outback. If such an instrument were to be built at high latitudes, it could provide a radio telescope’s view of auroral activity that could be used to forge a better understanding of what happens to plasma near the Earth during an auroral display.
Aurorasaurus Study Shows Auroral Mapping with Twitter
We looked at how Twitter can provide a picture of when, and from where, an aurora can be seen. This study showed that the number of aurora-related tweets correlated well with several different “geomagnetic indices”.