ASTRONOMY WINTER LECTURE SERIES: Enjoying the Aurora in Montana

The Aurora Borealis is a colorful display of natural lights that can be seen frequently in the dark winter skies at high latitudes. The aurora can be seen in Montana often enough to make it highly worthwhile to pay attention to the conditions and timing that lead to these beautiful displays. Dr. Joseph Shaw, director of the Optical Technology Center and a professor at MSU, will review the physical causes of the aurora and relay sources of information that can help predict when an aurora might be visible in Montana. One of these tools is a recently developed online network of optical aurora detectors developed at Montana State University – Bozeman and installed around Montana. Beautiful photographs of the aurora will be included throughout the talk.

The winter lecture series is sponsored by the Southwest Montana Astronomical Society and the Museum of the Rockies. All lectures begin at 7pm, doors open at 6:30, and all are free and open to the public.