The Ovation forecast layer appears on many aurora-related websites, including our own Aurora Map page. It’s a convenient way of graphically showing where an aurora might be seen, but we know it can cause some confusion about what is being shown and intrigue in how it is calculated. So let’s have a look at what…
It’s been a quiet start to the new year for aurora watchers in the UK, with only a single amber alert being issued in the whole of January and February combined. Perhaps this isn’t unsurprising considering that we are currently heading into a solar minimum, a drop in solar activity resulting from the Sun’s 11-year cycle. But, as reported…
Cold, wet afternoon? Bored? Wish you could see some pictures of the northern lights? Well read on! We’re delighted to share an exciting citizen science project with you called “The Auroral Zone“. Scientists from the University of Calgary in Canada need your help classifying thousands of images of the northern lights. The images have been…
Nathan Case, Lancaster University The northern lights are nature’s very own magnificent light show. They are the mesmerising end result of electrically charged particles from the sun colliding with the Earth’s upper atmosphere. Though more frequently witnessed from the polar regions, the UK and other places on similar latitudes are lucky enough for the aurora…
Although not related to the aurora, polar stratospheric clouds (also known as nacreous clouds) are a beautiful winter sky phenomenon. They only form when conditions in the stratosphere, a layer of our atmosphere at around 15-25km in altitude, are just right. One very important condition is that the temperature in the stratosphere must be below…
Over on the AuroraWatch UK Flickr page, photos of stunning auroral displays are shared with us regularly by some of the UK’s most talented photographers. Although aurora seen from the UK is often considerably weaker and less frequent than more northern countries, it doesn’t mean that it’s not there. As many of our followers have discovered, using the…
Eagle-eyed followers may have noticed that we’ve made a change to our alerts. From now on, any alerts issued during “daytime” will look slightly different: Old version: New daytime version: We’ve tweaked the text to avoid any confusion about being able to see the aurora during daylight hours. As you’ll probably know, seeing aurora requires…
There are several things that can really frustrate the avid aurora hunter: dead camera batteries, cloud cover, and that pesky thing called light pollution. Light pollution is the name for the brightening of the night sky due to the presence of man-made sources, e.g. street lamps, high-rise blocks, or gas flaring from nearby petrochemical plants.…
As a trial we’ve added Telegram to the list of services from which you can receive our alerts. Telegram is a cloud-based messaging service with widespread support for all the major mobile phone platforms and computer operating systems. There are native mobile apps for Android, iPhone (and iPad), and Windows Phone. The messaging program can…
Beautiful green ‘airglow’ spotted by aurora hunters – but what is it? Nathan Case, Lancaster University Over the past few nights, amateur astronomers and aurora hunters alike have been reporting a green glow across the UK sky. Easily confused with the aurora borealis, or northern lights, the sightings were of another phenomena called “airglow”. Airglow…
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