In The Media

What motivated you to volunteer as a NASA citizen scientist? How did you learn about NASA citizen science? I was fortunate enough to be contacted by Dr. Stephen Mende from UC Berkeley, an esteemed space physicist who found a blog post of mine about subauroral arcs, or Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement (STEVE), that I was […]

Subauroral emissions known as STEVEs (Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancements) are sometimes accompanied by green arcs containing magnetic field-aligned “picket fence” structures. In a newly published spectrum of a green picket fence arc Gillies et al. (2019, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL083272) showed that the visible emission in such arcs is mostly OI 557.7 nm with minimal N2+ 1N. This finding

Abstract Photos of a spectacular optical phenomenon, nicknamed STEVE, show finely structured, purple-colored, east-west arcs spanning the sky. These purple Sub-auroral Arc Emissions are associated with Sub-Auroral Ion Drifts, often accompanied by separate green arcs frequently displaying magnetic field aligned rays suggesting charge particle excitation. Both types of these arcs and polar auroras appear in

Canadian freelance photographer Christy Turner recently ran into a bit of good luck in the form of some “bad” weather. In the aftermath of a violent thunderstorm on the day of a graduation shoot, nature rewarded her with a spectacular backdrop of mammatus clouds … and a rainbow to boot. The story began when a colleague and friend of

For an aurora borealis chaser like Christy Turner, seeing the dancing lights from an airplane window was something she had always wanted to do. While flying from Calgary, Alberta, to Paris in October, her dream finally came true. She savored the moment from 30,000 feet above Iceland. “My mother knows well how passionate I am about

Why this could be a good week to go Aurora hunting.

There’s a few reasons why astronomy enthusiasts keep tight-lipped about their aurora borealis predictions. One, saying it’s going to happen means it won’t (or so the superstition goes). Two, sightings are notoriously hard to predict, requiring a perfect recipe of solar activity to be visible. Three, conditions can change rapidly, and no one wants to

“As the war in Ukraine continues, many thousands of refugees have made their way to Alberta – relying on the generosity and hospitality of Albertans to establish a new life here. For Christy Turner, it was taking in one of those refugees that taught her what an incredible gift it is to help others.”- CBC

For years, a group of aurora chasers across Alberta have been photographing a curious ribbon of purple and green light in their night skies. Extending for thousands of kilometres and appearing for just a few minutes to an hour at a time, these Alberta Aurora Chasers captured this celestial phenomenon in their photographs not quite