{"id":1050,"date":"2020-04-02T17:44:19","date_gmt":"2020-04-02T17:44:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aurorasaurudev.wpengine.com\/?page_id=1050"},"modified":"2025-07-16T21:08:05","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T21:08:05","slug":"about-us","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blog.aurorasaurus.org\/?page_id=1050","title":{"rendered":"About Us"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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About Us<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Aurorasaurus is a participatory science project<\/a> that uses volunteer reports to generate a real-time, global map of the Northern and Southern Lights. Each report serves as a valuable data point for scientists to analyze and incorporate into space weather models. Aurorasaurus was created by heliophysicist Dr. Elizabeth MacDonald<\/a>, and the co-PI is Dr. Matthew Heavner of the New Mexico Consortium<\/a>. The project is supported by a small team, as well as the Aurorasaurus Ambassador Network, Early Career Group, and many volunteers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Above<\/a>
Photo by Aurorasaurus Ambassador Gunjan Sinha, acquired during the May 11, 2024 superstorm from near Saskatoon in Saskatchewan, Canada. This image was featured on NASA Earth Observatory<\/a> and in the 2025 NASA Science calendar<\/a>. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Aurorasaurus is a research project that is a public-private partnership with the New Mexico Consortium<\/a> supported by the National Science Foundation<\/a> and NASA Science Activation<\/a>. It was designed by researchers from the New Mexico Consortium, NASA, Penn State University,  Science Education Solutions, and Ideum. Development support has been provided by Social Flow and Ensemble Consultancy. Real-time space weather data are provided by the Space Weather Prediction Center<\/a> at NOAA. Find out more about how to participate<\/a>, and be sure to check out our Privacy Policy and Terms<\/a>. We are grateful to all our past and present collaborators, including many post-docs and students. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the last decade<\/a>, the project has made a number of discoveries and publications<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n