At AuroraWatch UK we’ve always enjoyed looking at your photos of the aurora but, up until now, we’ve never captured any of our own. Today, however, we have some exciting news to share: AuroraWatch UK is getting its own aurora camera! Thanks to funding from Lancaster University’s Faculty of Science and Technology, the AWUK team…
One of the most frequent questions we receive on Facebook is: is this a photo of the aurora? So in this blog post, we’re going to list a few questions that you should ask yourself to help determine if you’ve snapped a photo of the aurora. Q1: What does AuroraWatch UK say? Although not perfect,…
As followers of AuroraWatch UK will undoubtedly be aware, last night was a pretty good night for seeing the aurora from across the UK. As shown in Figure 1, enhanced solar wind speeds, reaching 600 km/s at their peak, were recorded and were the result of a coronal hole high speed stream (you may see…
Jim Wild, Lancaster University We live on a moving target in a cosmic firing range. Each day, the Earth is bombarded by about a hundred tonnes of space debris. It may sound alarming, but this is really nothing to worry about. Most of the objects that fall towards our planet are pretty small – typically…
Nathan Case, Lancaster University People in the polar regions of the world, such as Scandinavia and Canada, sometimes get to watch majestic, rainbow-coloured clouds drift across an otherwise grey winter sky. Over the past few days, observers from across the UK and Ireland have also been lucky enough to witness this phenomenon, known as “nacreous”…
Gareth Dorrian, Lancaster University The International Space Station is the longest-running continuously inhabited human outpost in space – this year it celebrated its 15th anniversary. As the ISS orbits the Earth it is essentially in a state of free fall, counteracting the Earth’s gravity and providing an ideal platform for science in space. Science aboard…
Jim Wild, Lancaster University According to the European Space Agency, something is going to fall to Earth on Friday, 13 November. A mysterious piece of space debris named WT1190F is predicted to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere at around 06:20 GMT in the skies above the Indian Ocean. While it’s expected to burn up in the…
Nathan Case, Lancaster University Witnessing an aurora first-hand is a truly awe-inspiring experience. The natural beauty of the northern or southern lights captures the public imagination unlike any other aspect of space weather. But auroras aren’t unique to Earth and can be seen on several other planets in our solar system. An aurora is the…
Jim Wild, Lancaster University Satellites are essential to modern life. So essential, in fact, that plans have been drawn up on how to cope with a situation in which we could no longer rely on them. A UK government document entitled the Space Weather Preparedness Strategy may sound strange, but when so much of modern…
Jim Wild, Lancaster University Wouldn’t it be great if scientists could make their minds up? One minute they’re telling us our planet is warming up due to human activity and we run the risk of potentially devastating environmental change. Next, they’re warning that the Earth is heading for a mini ice age in the next…
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