How to Forecast Northern Lights! Part I: Aurora Basics

Want to See Northern or Southern Lights from your own backyard? I will equip you with the tools and knowledge you need to make that happen. You just need to know when and where to look!

(Part 2 will be delivered ~September or October 2019)

In Part 1 of this Aurora Forecasting series, I'm going to take you through the basics of Aurora Lore, Terminology, Solar Cycles, the Magnetosphere, Geomagnetic Latitude, and the Kp Index.

This information will help prime you for Part 2, where I will deep dive into forecasting the Kp index with the various tools available from NASA and the small armada of satellites that help us predict spaceweather and Aurora Borealis, and Aurora Australis.

You don't have to live in Alaska to see Northern Lights, you just need to know what to look for.

For 20 years I've photographed aurora from literally my own backyard or just driving outside of town, or while on vacation.

In most cases, you just need to be where you can increase your chances, and occasionally pay attention to space weather.

A lot of gear was used over the years, all the way from a Canon AE-1 film camera (2000+), to a Kodak DC290 (2001), Canon Rebel (300D) (2004-2009), Canon T1i and T3i (2010+)

#northernlights #astrophotography #MichiganAurora