{"id":2096,"date":"2024-07-29T20:48:21","date_gmt":"2024-07-29T20:48:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aurorasaurudev.wpengine.com\/?p=2096"},"modified":"2024-07-29T21:37:58","modified_gmt":"2024-07-29T21:37:58","slug":"what-goes-into-an-aurorasaurus-report-and-what-can-we-learn-together","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.aurorasaurus.org\/?p=2096","title":{"rendered":"What goes into an Aurorasaurus report, and what can we learn together?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since the May 10-11 aurora superstorm, a frequent question we have received is \u201cwhat makes a good report? What makes a good photo?\u201d While <\/span>all reports are amazing<\/b>, the answer may surprise you! In this post we\u2019ll walk you through things to include, go <\/span>behind the scenes<\/span><\/a> on how data is cleaned for scientific use, and give some examples of how you are making a difference. Most of all, we are grateful to everyone for participating in Aurorasaurus!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If you want to learn more, we would love for you to <\/span>join us<\/span><\/a> at our next <\/span>Report-A-Thon: Sat, Sept 21, 1-4 pm <\/b>EDT<\/b><\/a>.<\/b> It\u2019s a fun, online social we hold twice a year to celebrate our amazing volunteers and do participatory science together. You can help gather data to advance aurora science, ask your questions to experts, and hang out with a community of aurora lovers. Register at <\/span>https:\/\/bit.ly\/reportfall24<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How to Make a Report<\/span><\/h2>\n

ALL reports are useful!<\/b> Both positive reports (that you have seen aurora) and <\/span>negative reports<\/span><\/a> (that you have <\/span>not<\/b> seen aurora) are important. They help determine things like <\/span>how far away the aurora was visible<\/span><\/a>, how well models <\/span>predicted the event<\/span><\/a>, and whether factors like light pollution or clouds made the aurora hard to see. Report photos don\u2019t have to be perfect\u2014some of the most interesting were captured on the fly when the aurora did something unusual!<\/span><\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> for a quick-start video on how to make reports to the <\/span>website<\/span><\/a>. Web reports can be made in real time, or backdated. Multiple reports can be made per day. You can make an account or report anonymously, but we prefer that you log in. With an account, you can see all of your reports and receive our monthly newsletter. Logged-in users also receive two different kinds of aurora <\/span>notifications<\/span><\/a> by email: one when a model predicts aurora near you, and one when other users actually see aurora near you. When you make your report, you will have the following options to add scientifically valuable information to your observation. We work to make the reporting process easy for you, useful as a real-time map, and scientifically valuable as archived data.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n