We’ve had a fairly amazing year for space weather in the PNW – Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) are spectacular solar phenomena that occur when the Sun releases large bursts of plasma and magnetic field into space. When these charged particles collide with Earth’s magnetic field, they can create stunning aurora light shows, transforming the night sky into a vibrant canvas of greens, purples, and reds. These light shows are usually confined to higher latitudes, however this year we’ve had several spectacular shows in our night sky.
The big challenge is knowing when the show will occur – the NOAA Aurora Dashboard can provide some forecasting, however often times the aurora appears late at night during sleeping hours.
In googling about for ways to watch the night sky, I came across Team AllSky’s Project. Having a spare RPi4 I had a new project to work on.
Installing AllSky is straightforward – and out of pure luck two days after I set our new camera out in the front yard we had a big CME/Aurora night. Poised on it’s tupperware perch to stay out of the morning dew, our AllSky pi had captured the Aurora perfectly!
Between the imminent PNW rainy season and neighborhood racoons the Pi needs a better home. Over the coming weeks I’ll be building a more robust/weatherproof/racoon-resistant enclosure and working on a live feed.