Aurora Summit 24 brings leaders, app developers, authors, scientists, photographers, and professional Aurora Chasers together to demystify nature’s light show, including SpaceWeatherLive, Aurorsaurus
RED CLIFF, Wisc. — Bringing three days of Aurora events to the public, the 7th Annual Aurora Summit will offer educational sessions, panel discussions, hands-on photography clinics and more to enchant skywatchers in pursuit of the Aurora.
Returning to a scenic area of Northern Wisconsin in October, Aurora Summit 24 offers educational talks on over a dozen topics, two panel discussions, a program featuring the star of a documentary film, book signings, and camera tutorials, including hands-on night photography clinics. The event will also include Northern Lights vendors and/or sponsors, author signings, Aurora trivia and prizes. New this year, the Sunday program will feature the star of a documentary film, as well as “How I Got the Shot: Photographer Stories.”
In their first appearance in the United States, the event will feature a visit by the creators of SpaceWeatherLive, a Platinum Sponsor for Aurora Summit 24. Founder and Developer Sander Vancanneyt and Webmaster and Space Weather Analyst Marcel De Bont will travel in from Europe to meet Aurora Chasers and participate in the convention. For more information about their app and platform, visit https://www.spaceweatherlive.com.
Back by popular demand, guests are invited to attend a pre-conference AS24 Photography Bootcamp on Friday, October 18, as an optional add-on. Led by seasoned Aurora Chaser and world traveler Greg Ash, the program will teach new and emerging photographers everything they need to know to get their camera dialed in for a weekend of night photography.
Aurora Summit 24 features Keynote Speaker Dr. Elizabeth MacDonald, the founder of Aurorasaurus, a citizen science project to map Aurora around the world. She will speak during the Saturday night banquet, which also offers stories of the Northern Lights and a photography slideshow, followed by a group aurora chase.
A panel discussion will kick off the weekend-long event on Friday night, followed by educational sessions on Saturday. The presentations will cover a broad range of topics, as the speakers explain the art, culture, science and photography of the Aurora throughout the event.
The full line-up of speakers includes:
- Keynote Speaker Dr. Liz MacDonald, Founder of Aurorasaurus: Participatory Science: How Aurora Chasers and Scientists Can Team Up to Learn More
- Presenter Vincent Ledvina, Aurora Forecasting for Any Skill Level
- Presenter Tanya Melnik and Presenter Elizabeth Miller, with development by Brian Murphy Slattum, Upper Midwest Aurora Chasers Admins, Aurora Apps: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
- Presenter Travis Novitsky, Proud citizen and lifelong resident of the Grand Portage Anishinaabe Nation, Featured in “Spirits Dancing” and Narrator of an Emmy-Award Winning Documentary: An Ojibwe Perspective on the Night Sky
- Presenter Bob King, Aurora Everywhere — Planets, Exoplanets and Beyond!
- Presenter Michele Sadauskas, Never Wide Enough! Wide Angle Photography, Gear & Lenses
- Presenter Marty Weintraub. From Aurora Shots to Composed Astroscapes: Scout, Shoot, Edit
- Presenter Greg Ash, Single Image Creative Aurora, Photography & Camera Settings
- Presenter Jen Selwa, After the Aurora: Enhancing your Night Sky Images in Editing
- Presenter Samuel Warfel. SpaceWeatherLive: Making the Most of the Field’’s Best App
- Presenter Bob Conzemius, A Changing Magnetic Field on Earth: Are the Auroras Changing, Too?, with
- Presenter Justin Miller, Think bigger! Putting multiple photos into one with Panoramas, Mosaics & Timelapses
- Presenter Marc Rassel, Advanced Milky Way Editing: A deep dive in to using star trackers and advanced editing techniques for high-detail Milky Way photography
As well as two panel discussions led by co-founders:
- World Travel: Aurora Chasing Destinations Panel, Led by Dixie J. Burbank, Photographer, Tour Guide and Owner of Cosmic Chaos Adventures, LLC
- Aurora Chasing Panel, Led by Melissa F. Kaelin, Speaker, Author of “Beyond the 45th Parallel: The Beginner’s Guide to Chasing Aurora in the Mid-latitudes” and Founder of the Michigan Aurora Chasers
Guests are also welcome to attend the Aurora Summit with Saturday night admission to the Keynote Speech: “Participatory Science: How Aurora Chasers and Scientists Can Team Up to Learn More” with Dr. Elizabeth MacDonald. MacDonald highlights the decade Aurorasaurus has bridged scientists and the public to study auroras. Aurorasaurus empowers creative volunteer-led efforts and collaborations, provides engagement opportunities, connects via alerts and social media, and offers many different resources. We will share what we have learned and where we can go, together.
MacDonald is a heliophysicist working remotely for NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. Dr. MacDonald has been studying the glitter of the Northern Lights for 2.5 solar cycles (nearly 30 years), and it never ceases to amaze her. Her passion for the aurora has only increased over the last 12 years working with fantastic photographers and passionate volunteers. She founded a participatory science project called Aurorasaurus, which enlists people to help with community reports, using smartphones and social media to improve predictions of the Northern and Southern Lights.
In 2018, she led a large team of scientists and participatory scientists in publishing a new understanding of an unusual aurora called STEVE (Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement). She has also led teams that built instruments to measure charged particles in the space environment for NASA and DOE satellite and rocket missions. She serves as the lead of a NASA Headquarters Heliophysics Strategic Working Group increasing opportunities for doing participatory science across the field. Outside of work, she likes to ski and hike and use the iNat and Merlin apps. She lives and works on the traditional homelands of the Cayuse, Umatilla, and Walla Walla peoples in what today is known as Walla Walla, Washington.
Already representing much of North America, the registered guests for Aurora Summit 24 hail from twelve U.S. states and three countries, including Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Alabama, Virginia, Maine, Colorado, Washington, Oregon, and Alaska, as well as the countries of Belgium and Sweden.
Open to the public, the 7th Annual Aurora Summit will take place October 18-20, 2024, at Legendary Waters Resort and Casino in Red Cliff, Wisconsin. All are welcome. Hotel rooms are still available in nearby Bayfield and Washburn, Wisconsin. Guests must register to attend, and registration is open until October 1, 2024. All meals are included in registration, as well as swag and raffle prizes.
With a shared passion for viewing and photographing the Aurora Borealis, the hope is that everyone will catch this rare natural phenomenon during the event. Aurora are never guaranteed. Even if the Northern Lights do not appear at the Aurora Summit, guests will leave knowing how to catch them on their own.
Established in 2017, the Aurora Summit is organized by Co-Founders Melissa F. Kaelin, author and founder of the Michigan Aurora Chasers; Dixie J. Burbank, photographer and owner of Cosmic Chaos Adventures, LLC.
For more information or to register, visit TheAuroraSummit.com.
Photo Credit: Photo by Greg Ash
Aurora Summit 