Sky & Telescope - March 2023 - 84

JAY BRAUSCH (2)
FOCAL POINT by Jay Brausch
Observer Extraordinaire
In September 2022, the author celebrated 41 years of nightly recording of
aurorae - and he's not done yet.
IN 1981, when I began watching for the
northern lights from my family home
in Glen Ullin, North Dakota, I had
no idea how long it would last. After
a decade of these nightly vigils, Sky &
Telescope ran an article I wrote about my
efforts (S&T: Aug. 1991, p. 199). Following
my 2,000th aurora observation
in October 2003, Contributing Editor
Charles A. Wood authored a follow-up
piece (S&T: Aug. 2004, p. 123).
I persevered, the years marched by,
and in late September 2022 I completed
my 41st year of chronicling the northern
lights from my home. As of the end
of October 2022, I had recorded 2,494
aurora events since September 26, 1981.
While I've learned an enormous
amount about aurorae in that time, the
findings I outlined in my 1991 article
still hold true. These include the fact
that while most aurorae put on their
finest show between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m.
local time, others look best just after
dusk or before dawn. Also, while green
or greenish white are the most common
colors, followed by yellow and, more
rarely, red, occasionally exotic colors
such as orange, silver-gray, or violet
make an appearance.
I continue to use the same scale I
devised early on to record the extent
of a display. In my system, a primary
curtain reaching halfway to Polaris is
a level 5 display, for example, while an
auroral curtain or arc stretching all the
way to the polestar is a level 10. Aurorae
are dynamic and look chaotic, but I
simplify them into four basic phases:
the glow, the homogenous arc, the rayed
arc, and " flaming/pulsating " patches.
These phases can revert, skip, and
repeat in a single night, depending on
the strength of the display.
Moreover, I've found that the aurora
extent and frequency in my sky, being
one measure of the Sun's activity,
appear to contribute to local weather
out here. Aurorae often seem to trigger
or at least can be followed by winds,
which affect precipitation amounts and
amplify temperature extremes. Those
extremes can range from about minus
50°C (-58°F) to over 38°C (100°F).
I've also kept a watch for noctilucent
clouds since 1993. That's the year I discovered
what at the time was the southernmost
sighting in North America of
these rare clouds, which appear some
80 km (50 mi) high in the atmosphere.
So far, I've recorded 120 twilight events
of them of various extents and forms. I
observed STEVE, which can form a narrow,
sky-spanning luminous arch visible
for most of an hour, long before the
acronym was devised. I've also sketched
and recorded activity on the Sun for
many years, reaching my 10,000th day
of doing this on June 4, 2017.
So what of the future? Aurora activity
is much less frequent today than it
was a few decades ago. I recorded just 7
aurora event nights in 2018, a mere 5 in
each of 2019 and 2020, just 10 in 2021,
and 16 in 2022 through October. Compare
this to 127 event nights in 1990
and 148 nights in 1991 - the " year of
the aurora " in North Dakota.
While the current solar cycle 25 will
certainly have an auroral high point
sometime before the cycle peaks in
late 2025, I, like others, predict it will
be nothing like the peaks of 1991 and
2001. So anyone adventurous enough
to record the aurora from my state will
very likely see much less of the phenomenon
than I have.
AURORA RECORDER The author, pictured at right in one of the thousands of images he's taken
of the northern lights from his hometown in western North Dakota, has won awards for his dedicated
work, including the Merlin Medal from the British Astronomical Association in 1993.
84 MARCH 2023 * SKY & TELESCOPE
¢ JAY BRAUSCH continues his nightly
watch in Glen Ullin, North Dakota.

Sky & Telescope - March 2023

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