Aurora Surprise
Auroras were *not* in the forecast this weekend. Nevertheless, "they're baaaaaaack," reports Bob Conzemius, who saw the Northern Lights on July 26th over Grand Rapids, Minnesota:
"It has been a pretty quiet summer in northern Minnesota for seeing auroras, so it was nice to see them again," says Conzemius. "I shot entirely within the city limits of Grand Rapids, starting from my front yard and ending at McKinney Lake as it was getting light at 4:00 AM CDT."
The source of this unexpected display was a fluctuation in the interplanetary magnetic field. The IMF tipped south, opening a crack in Earth's magnetospere. Solar wind poured in and ignited the auroras.
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