With the recent aurora activity lighting up the night sky for much of the Great Lakes, social media has been flooded with northern lights pictures. Did you know that you can help send official reports of aurora sightings to help with space weather models?
Northern Lights visible in Cannonsburg, Michigan. Picture taken by Jack Wojczynski.Jack Wojczynski
Similar to weather models, space weather models need to take real observations into account when forecasting the aurora visibility. Knowing what’s going on in real time helps these models become more accurate. An organization called Aurorasaurus helps do just that.
*Past* forecast for the Northern Lights. NOAA
Aurorasaurus encourages people across the country to send in real-time reports of aurora sightings during active space weather periods. For those who are looking for the aurora, sending a report is easy. Once you’ve navigated to their website, you’re encouraged to either log in or register. You can submit a report without an …