For all our mini-sky watchers out there, here is a look at what you can expect to find this fall.
The Aurora Borealis: The northern lights are more visible during the winter than during the summer, not because they appear more frequently, but because we have more hours of darkness at night in which to look for it. Geomagnetic activity coming from the sun causes these amazing displays to happen. There are clubs of aurora watchers online and on Facebook (see Aurora Borealis Notifications), who keep track of the sun’s activity and can predict when aurora activity should be prime for watching. If you want to be an aurora watcher too, you should check these websites out: softservenews.com and solarham.com are not only fun to keep track of the aurora on, but they are great resources for a budding scientist.
Watching the aurora is best if you live in the northern states, but during a very strong geomagnetic storm, people have see the aurora in Phoenix, Austin, and Philadelphia. It’s rare, but it does happen. We have interviewed some avid aurora watchers, and here are their tried and true tips for getting a great view of the aurora borealis:
• Find a place as far away from the ambient lights of city as possible. Light pollution significantly decreases the light you can see from the aurora. An open field, or a stretch of road that is out in the middle of flat country is the best.
• Face northeast if you are in the western half of the country, face northwest if you are in the eastern half of the country. The aurora comes down over the northern states as the tip of an oval.
• Plan to stay out looking up at the sky from about 11:00pm-2:00am as those are the times corresponding with the position of the earth and the brunt of the geomagnetic waves. The aurora is not something anyone can predict with solid accuracy, so you have to plan to sky gaze and hope the aurora explodes into view.
• Bring thermoses with warm drinks, snacks, and plenty of warm clothing or warm blankets and sleeping bags. Even in early fall, the night temperatures can get uncomfortably cool, so to make your experience more fun, especially if you are including children, thinking ahead makes for a much better experience.
• Enjoy the night sky! You may see falling stars, meteors, distant lightning, the glow of a passing satellite.
This quiet time of gazing at the night sky is a great time opportunity to talk about the constellations and try to find them, draw pictures and maps of the sky with your kids the next day, and maybe this will turn into a family hobby! A small telescope can make things even more fun, and some good camera equipment is usually next on the list. Photographing the aurora borealis is a fun and challenging project, and there are entire clubs devoted solely to that activity! Night photography classes would help make things easier, there are many tips and tricks for capturing the night sky that an expert can show you.
See also:
Photography classes Seattle
Personal trainer Chicago
Dance classes Philadelphia
Cooking classes Chicago
The Aurora Borealis: The northern lights are more visible during the winter than during the summer, not because they appear more frequently, but because we have more hours of darkness at night in which to look for it. Geomagnetic activity coming from the sun causes these amazing displays to happen. There are clubs of aurora watchers online and on Facebook (see Aurora Borealis Notifications), who keep track of the sun’s activity and can predict when aurora activity should be prime for watching. If you want to be an aurora watcher too, you should check these websites out: softservenews.com and solarham.com are not only fun to keep track of the aurora on, but they are great resources for a budding scientist.
Watching the aurora is best if you live in the northern states, but during a very strong geomagnetic storm, people have see the aurora in Phoenix, Austin, and Philadelphia. It’s rare, but it does happen. We have interviewed some avid aurora watchers, and here are their tried and true tips for getting a great view of the aurora borealis:
• Find a place as far away from the ambient lights of city as possible. Light pollution significantly decreases the light you can see from the aurora. An open field, or a stretch of road that is out in the middle of flat country is the best.
• Face northeast if you are in the western half of the country, face northwest if you are in the eastern half of the country. The aurora comes down over the northern states as the tip of an oval.
• Plan to stay out looking up at the sky from about 11:00pm-2:00am as those are the times corresponding with the position of the earth and the brunt of the geomagnetic waves. The aurora is not something anyone can predict with solid accuracy, so you have to plan to sky gaze and hope the aurora explodes into view.
• Bring thermoses with warm drinks, snacks, and plenty of warm clothing or warm blankets and sleeping bags. Even in early fall, the night temperatures can get uncomfortably cool, so to make your experience more fun, especially if you are including children, thinking ahead makes for a much better experience.
• Enjoy the night sky! You may see falling stars, meteors, distant lightning, the glow of a passing satellite.
This quiet time of gazing at the night sky is a great time opportunity to talk about the constellations and try to find them, draw pictures and maps of the sky with your kids the next day, and maybe this will turn into a family hobby! A small telescope can make things even more fun, and some good camera equipment is usually next on the list. Photographing the aurora borealis is a fun and challenging project, and there are entire clubs devoted solely to that activity! Night photography classes would help make things easier, there are many tips and tricks for capturing the night sky that an expert can show you.
See also:
Photography classes Seattle
Personal trainer Chicago
Dance classes Philadelphia
Cooking classes Chicago
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