Tag Archives: Aurora

March : most geomagnetically active month of the year

Space Weather News for March 1, 2021
https://spaceweather.com
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GEOMAGNETIC STORM: Did you know, March is the most geomagnetically active month of the year? Today is March 1st and, right on cue, the strongest storm of new Solar Cycle 25 erupted. Bright auroras spread across Canada and Alaska during the G2-class event. Visit Spaceweather.com to find out what makes March so lively.

Instant solar flare alerts: Sign up for Space Weather Alerts and receive a text message when strong solar flares are underway.
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Above: Auroras in bright moonlight over Fairbanks, Alaska, on Feb. 28-March 1, 2021. Photo credit: Ayumi Bakken. Check out our Aurora Photo Gallery!


New phenomenon discovered in Aurora — green cannonballs!

Space Weather News for Nov. 25, 2020
https://spaceweather.com
https://www.spaceweatheralerts.com

LITTLE GREEN CANNONBALLS OF LIGHT: Researchers and citizen scientists have just discovered a new phenomenon: “Little green cannonballs of light” streaking through the atmosphere faster than 1000 mph during some geomagnetic storms. And they’re not auroras. Visit today’s edition of  Spaceweather.com for the full story.

Aurora alerts: Sign up for Space Weather Alerts and receive a text message when auroras appear in your area.
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Above: Pure green spheres of light streaking through the atmosphere, photographed by sky watchers in Canada, New Zealand, and the USA. [Full story]


Beautiful video of aurora

Watch new kind of Northern Lights

A group of amateur Finnish amateur stargazers along with scientists from the University of Helsinki have discovered a new auroral phenomenon.


https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2020/01/29/northern-lights-new-form-dune-orig-tp-mg-2.cnn

BTW–the satellites did not collide yesterday. Huge sigh of relief, we didn’t need more space junk up there.

2019 Aurora Award Ballot

2019 Aurora Award Ballot


The 2019 Aurora Awards finalists have been announced. The awards are nominated by members of the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association, for Science Fiction / Fantasy works done in 2018 by Canadians. The top five nominated works were selected.  Additional works were included where there was a tie for fifth place. The awards ceremony will be held at Can-Con 2019, October 18-20, in Ottawa.

Best Novel

  • Armed in Her Fashion by Kate Heartfield, ChiZine Publications
  • Graveyard Mind by Chadwick Ginther, ChiZine Publications
  • One of Us by Craig DiLouie, Orbit
  • The Quantum Magician by Derek Künsken, Solaris Books and Analog Science Fiction and Fact
  • They Promised Me The Gun Wasn’t Loaded by James Alan Gardner, Tor
  • Witchmark by C. L. Polk, Tor.com Publications

Best Young Adult Novel

  • Children of the Bloodlands: The Realms of Ancient, Book 2 by S.M. Beiko, ECW Press
  • Cross Fire: An Exo Novel by Fonda Lee, Scholastic Press
  • Exit Plans for Teenage Freaks by ‘Nathan Burgoine, Bold Strokes Books
  • Finding Atlantis by J.M. Dover, Evil Alter Ego Press
  • Legacy of Light by Sarah Raughley, Simon Pulse
  • The Emerald Cloth by Clare C Marshall, Faery Ink Press
  • The Sign of Faust by Éric Desmarais, Renaissance Press
  • Timefall by Alison Lohans, Five Rivers Publishing

Best Short Fiction

  • “A Hold Full of Truffles” by Julie E. Czerneda, Tales from Plexis, DAW Books
  • “Alice Payne Arrives” by Kate Heartfield, Tor.com Publications
  • “Critical Mass” by Liz Westbrook-Trenholm, Shades Within Us: Tales of Migrations and Fractured Borders, Laksa Media
  • “For A Rich Man to Enter” by Susan Forest, InterGalactic Medicine Show, Issue 62
  • “Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach” by Kelly Robson, Tor.com Publications

Best Graphic Novel

  • Crash and Burn by Finn Lucullan and Kate Larking, Astres Press
  • FUTILITY: Orange Planet Horror by Rick Overwater and Cam Hayden, Coffin Hop Press
  • It Never Rains by Kari Maaren, Webcomic
  • Krampus Is My Boyfriend! by S.M. Beiko, Webcomic
  • Woman World by Aminder Dhaliwal, Drawn and Quarterly

Best Poem/Song

  • “Echos” by Shannon Allen, By the Light of Camelot, EDGE
  • “How My Life Will End” by Vanessa Cardui, Shades Within Us: Tales of Migrations and Fractured Borders, Laksa Media
  • “Osiris” by Leah Bobet, Uncanny Magazine
  • “Trips to Impossible Cities” by Sandra Kasturi, Amazing Stories Magazine, issue #2, Winter 2018
  • “Ursula Le Guin in the Underworld” by Sarah Tolmie, On Spec issue 107 vol 28.4

Best Related Work

  • By the Light of Camelot edited by J. R. Campbell and Shannon Allen, EDGE
  • Disabled People Destroy Science Fiction edited by Dominik Parisien and Elsa Sjunneson-Henry, Uncanny Magazine
  • Gaslight Gothic: Strange Tales of Sherlock Holmes edited by J. R. Campbell and Charles Prepolec, EDGE
  • Shades Within Us: Tales of Migrations and Fractured Borders edited by Susan Forest and Lucas K. Law, Laksa Media
  • We Shall Be Monsters: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein 200 years on edited by Derek Newman-Stille, Renaissance Press

Best Visual Presentation

  • Bao, written and directed by Domee Shi , Pixar Animation Studios
  • Deadpool 2, written and produced by Ryan Reynolds, Twentieth Century Fox
  • Murdoch Mysteries, 2018 episodes, Peter Mitchell and Christina Jennings, Shaftesbury Films
  • Travelers, Season 3, Brad Wright, Carrie Mudd, John G. Lenic, and Eric McCormack, Peacock Alley Entertainment
  • Wynonna Earp, Season 3, Emily Andras, Seven24 Films Calgary

Best Artist

  • Lily Author, cover art for Polar Borealis Magazine #8, Dragon Lab
  • Samantha M. Beiko, covers for Laksa Media
  • James F. Beveridge, cover art for Tyche books
  • Roger Czerneda, cover for Tales from Plexis, DAW Books
  • Dan O’Driscoll, covers for Bundoran Press
  • Lynne Taylor Fahnestalk, cartoons for Amazing Stories Magazine

Best Fan Writing and Publications

  • Adios Cowboy, Adam Shaftoe
  • Books and Tea, Christina Vasilevski
  • Constructing the Future, Derek Newman-Stille, Uncanny Magazine
  • Mars vs. Titan, Ron S. Friedman, Quora
  • She Wrote It But…Revisiting Joanna Russ’ “How to Suppress Women’s Writing” 35 Years Later, Krista D. Ball
  • Travelling TARDIS, Jen Desmarais, JenEric Designs

Best Fan Organizational

  • Sandra Kasturi, chair Chiaroscuro Reading Series: Toronto
  • Derek Künsken and Marie Bilodeau, co-chairs, Can*Con, Ottawa
  • Matt Moore, Marie Bilodeau, and Nicole Lavigne, co-chairs, Chiaroscuro Reading Series: Ottawa
  • Randy McCharles, chair, When Words Collide, Calgary
  • Sandra Wickham, chair, Creative Ink Festival, Burnaby, BC

Best Fan Related Work

  • S.M. Beiko and Clare C. Marshall, Business BFFs (Podcast)
  • Kari Maaren, ChiSeries Toronto, monthly musical performances
  • Joshua Pantalleresco, Just Joshing (Podcast)
  • Derek Newman-Stille, Speculating Canada
  • Edward Willett, The Worldshapers (Podcast)

Solar Wind sparks “rainbow auroras”

Space Weather News for May 29, 2019
http://spaceweather.com
https://www.spaceweatheralerts.com

SOLAR WIND SPARKS “RAINBOW AURORAS”: A stream of fast-moving solar wind hit Earth’s magnetic field on May 29th, sparking rainbow-colored auroras over Canada. Solar wind effects could continue for another 24 to 48 hours as our planet passes through the broad stream of gaseous material, which is flowing from a hole in the sun’s atmosphere. Visit Spaceweather.com for updates.

Sign up for Space Weather Alerts and get an instant text message when geomagnetic storms begin.

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Above: Auroras outside Calgary, Alberta, Canada, on May 29, 2019. Photo credit: Harlan Thomas. For more sightings, check the Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery.


Aurora Awards

We have received a reminder that nominations for the Aurora Awards will close on May the 18th.

To check the Eligibility Lists Click here.

(Warp is eligible, hint)

Becoming a member of the CSFFA is an excellent idea. Not only to you get to vote, but you will get a voters package that is worth a lot more than the 10$ fee for membership!

Sunspot crackling with C-class solar flares

If we ever see a clear sky again, we might see aurora–CPL

Space Weather News for March 21, 2019
http://spaceweather.com
https://www.spaceweatheralerts.comBIG SUNSPOT: Sunspot AR2736, which hurled a CME toward Earth yesterday, is growing larger and crackling with C-class solar flares. The active region now sprawls across more than 100,000 km of the solar disk and contains multiple dark cores as large as Earth, making it one of the biggest sunspots in recent years. Visit Spaceweather.com to watch a movie of the growing spot and to find out what makes it so explosive.

NEW: Sign up for Space Weather Alerts and get an instant text message when auroras appear.

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Above: Magnetic and white-light images of sunspot AR2736 from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory

Watch for Aurora

There is a possibility of seeing aurora for the next couple of nights. The sky is supposed to be clear, too.  –CPL

Space Weather News for Feb. 26, 2019
http://spaceweather.com
https://www.spaceweatheralerts.com

GEOMAGNETIC STORMS THIS WEEK: A large hole in the sun’s atmosphere is facing Earth and sending a stream of solar wind in our direction. Minor G1-class geomagnetic storms are likely when the gaseous material arrives on Feb. 27th and 28th. Solar wind speeds could top 500 km/s (1.1 million mph), sparking auroras around the Arctic Circle and possibly even in US states along a line from Maine to Washington. Visit Spaceweather.com for updates.

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Above: NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory obtained this false-color ultraviolet image of the hole in the sun’s atmosphere on Feb. 25, 2019.

Aurora Awards open for eligibility lists

The Aurora Awards Site is ready for a new year!

http://www.prixaurorawards.ca

Check the eligibility lists, update your membership, and so on.

Membership is only 10$, and you get a lot of free reading so you can vote on the best in Canadian SF/F.

SOUTH POLE AURORA VIDEO

SOUTH POLE AURORA VIDEO: Imagine living and working in darkness, 24 hours a day for 6 months out of every year. Robert Schwarz does just that. He’s a professional telescope operator for the Keck Telescope Array at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. And his hobby is astrophotography. For the past 14 winters, he has been taking pictures of the south polar night, witnessing scenes unlike anyplace else on Earth. His work is highlighted in a newly-released video entitled “South Pole | Night In Antarctica.”

A longtime contributor to Spaceweather.com, Robert Schwarz is a pioneer in cold-weather astrophotography. At the South Pole, temperatures routinely drop below -70o C. Modern DSLR cameras are not made for such temperatures. LCD displays freeze instantly, mirror mechanisms get stuck, batteries fail, and time-lapse sequences often end after only 30 or 40 frames. To mitigate these problems, Robert has developed heated camera housings and motorized trackers with insulation, allowing his optics to follow the pirouette of the stars overhead even in deep Antarctic cold.

Cinematographers Christoph Malin and Martin Heck created the video using a year’s worth of Schwarz’s unique footage. They’re looking forward to more. Right now, Robert is traveling to the South Pole for a record-setting 15th “overwinter,” and of course he’s taking his cameras. Stay tuned!