If you wish to see an aurora with your personal eyes, you’ll most likely want the assistance of an aurora monitoring app to maximise your possibilities. However there are a variety of choices accessible, every with its professionals and cons. These are some unbelievable selections to contemplate if you’re in search of one.
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Aurora Notifier
This free app is considered one of my favorites just because it has a very nice house display screen that is easy and intuitive however nonetheless provides you a ton of knowledge. While you open Aurora Notifier, you may be handled to a 3D picture of the Earth, exhibiting off a number of issues: your actual location, the extent of sunshine air pollution in any given space, and even the precise areas the place the auroras are seen.
This type of data is not precisely distinctive amongst apps, however the easy but efficient visible presentation makes it tremendous simple to parse in a single look. You do not want a lot time to see and perceive every part vital.
Moreover, the principle web page of the app provides you tons of different related data, letting you already know the KP Index, native aurora exercise, cloud cowl, latitude and longitude, and a complete lot extra. That is the meat of the app, all of which is, admittedly, very simple. However it provides you every part it’s good to know shortly and effectively.
Lastly, AuroraNotifier has a singular alert possibility the place you may be notified if different individuals in your space have reported seeing the aurora. For sure, for those who’re looking for that tremendous visible, realizing precisely the place different persons are seeing it helps you out so much. The app will even allow you to see photos uploaded by different customers who’re reporting their sightings.
There are additionally many distinctive settings for once you wish to be notified: solely when the KP Index is above a sure threshold, solely when cloud cowl is not too extreme, and even the occasions of day you wish to be notified.
There’s a premium model of this app, however thus far, I have never seen any purpose to get it. The whole lot you would fairly need is accessible on the free model. The one actual draw back of this app is that it is solely accessible on the Google Play Retailer.
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Aurora Now
Aurora Now will not be free, regardless of being marketed as such on the Google Play Retailer and iOS app retailer. It really gives a one-week free trial, after which it requires you to pay a month-to-month or yearly subscription, although it is very low cost at only some {dollars} a month. For that value, you do really get various utility: admittedly greater than the aforementioned Aurora Notifier.
Aurora Now provides you entry to a ton of very particular data: up to the mark like native aurora likelihood and KP Index readings, you can too get photo voltaic wind and hemispheric energy measurements, 3-day or 27-day forecasts, and even X-ray flux and solar flare monitoring.
The perfect half about all of that is that the app contains explanations for what all of this stuff imply and the way they influence your aurora searching, making it a good way to be taught for those who’re considerably new to the entire thing and wish to get educated on the matter.
This app additionally contains graphs and maps. Although they are not as animated as Aurora Notifier’s 3D globe, they do embody much more data and could also be simpler for some individuals to learn clearly because of their 2D nature. For instance, the 2D map on Aurora Now clearly labels the international locations the aurora is at the moment current in, so I can inform that Finland is commonly getting a present with out having to only know the place Finland is.
Finally, I’d say that Aurora Now is a greater and extra complete app than Aurora Notifier, however since it is not free, I do not suppose it is objectively extra value it. It will depend on if you’re prepared to spend a couple of dollars each month on a subscription. The app is superb, however there are alternate options which have comparable choices totally free.
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Aurora Compass
Aurora Compass is one other free app for each Android and Apple units that, whereas not my favourite, can positively nonetheless get the job executed. The app house web page is a bit lackluster, exhibiting solely native auroral exercise, cloudiness, geomagnetic exercise, and time estimates of when darkness will fall and when the Moon will rise in your space.
On the map tab, there’s a primary map exhibiting you the place the auroras may be sighted, but additionally a singular filter that exhibits you real-time exercise knowledge from magnetometers world wide. That metric will not be all the time included in these apps, making it a reasonably distinctive function on this listing.
Aurora Compass additionally supplies all the information wanted to trace photo voltaic winds and keep conscious of the KP Index, in addition to data on photo voltaic flares, sunspots, and different photo voltaic exercise that may affect the visibility of an aurora. It is value noting that this app contains latest NOAA activity stories as nicely, and it additionally has very thorough tooltips that may train you about all the knowledge you are studying and why it issues.
Personally, I believe Aurora Compass is a greater decide over Aurora Now. Each apps present comparable data with comparable ranges of complexity. Aurora Now has extra user-friendly maps and graphs, however it’s not like Aurora Compass would not get you a similar data anyway.
Talking for myself solely, Aurora Compass is certainly comparable in utility to its paid counterpart, and I do not see any purpose to pay for a similar stage of usefulness that I may get totally free. You should purchase new coloration schemes to assist the app developer, however you do not have to.
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Aurora Labs: Aurora Forecast
Aurora Labs is an Android-exclusive app that may get the job executed, however not in a really interesting means, in my view. It supplies a variety of the identical data as the opposite apps thus far, like photo voltaic wind information, KP, and cloud protection, however it does this by presenting you with a bunch of widgets that are not actually organized in any explicit means.
It is type of like a widget-filled cellphone house display screen, with every widget presenting particular knowledge. Personally, I do not suppose it really works in addition to the extra streamlined knowledge presentation within the different apps.
General, Aurora Labs would not present a breadth of information as sturdy as Aurora Compass or Aurora Now both. The map could be very primary and would not present a lot information apart from the place the aurora is likely to be seen. It additionally would not present any thorough rationalization of the information it’s presenting to you, so for those who do not already know the significance of the supplied photo voltaic wind data, you will not be capable of be taught why it issues right here on this app.
There’s one factor I would prefer to reward, although. Aurora Labs does present a extra detailed and thorough cloud protection map than many different apps I’ve examined. As an alternative of simply supplying you with a regional cloud protection share, you get an actual map akin to the one you’d see on the climate channel, exhibiting you precise cloud formations, wind path, and so on.
It is a good function, however total, I believe a number of the different apps on this listing are extra helpful. Nonetheless, Aurora Labs is free, so there isn’t any hurt in making an attempt it out to see for your self.
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Lumyros
Lumyros is an app that has each a free and professional model for each Apple and Android units. Proper off the bat, what I like most about it’s the truth that it has all the data of the sturdy apps, however it’s divided right into a newbie and knowledgeable tab.
So for those who do not wish to learn about issues like photo voltaic wind density and magnetic fields, and also you simply desire a common estimate of how probably a visual aurora is, you will discover that on the newbie tab in very simply understood phrases. However for those who do wish to perceive the finer mechanics of all of it, you may dive deeper on the knowledgeable tab.
One other distinctive function about Lumyros is the presence of a “Lumyros Academy” the place you may be taught all about aurora searching. There are many movies within the academy that designate every part very clearly, making this app a legitimate alternative if you’re actually brand-new to aurora searching and must be taught all the fundamentals.
Lumyros additionally gamifies aurora searching by rewarding you with “achievements” on your profile as you report aurora sightings. This works in tandem with the social media facet of the app, with a profile feed, posts, and a follower system. All of that’s fairly distinctive amongst some of these apps, so for those who just like the sound of that, Lumyros is likely to be your solely alternative.
Sadly, it is not all excellent news. Although Lumyros has a free and professional model, the free model is fairly restricted. You’ll be able to’t even have the app present knowledge a couple of particular location until you pay for professional, and also you’re solely allowed to set notifications for auroral exercise, not seen auroras or KP index thresholds.
On high of that, a variety of the content material within the aforementioned Lumyros Academy can also be restricted to the professional model. Greater than half of their tutorials and movies are locked behind the professional model, which prices $6.49 per month.
Personally, I do not suppose it is value it. Although the app does supply some good options and helpful knowledge, it additionally feels deliberately predatory to have so many issues locked behind a paywall. Admittedly, it is likely to be value it for a brand-new aurora hunter, however on the similar time, all the data taught within the Lumyros Academy can positively be discovered on-line too totally free.
It is value giving the free model a shot, however I do not suppose the professional model gives sufficient to justify its value when some competitors gives that stuff freed from cost.
Keep in mind that that is solely a handful of aurora monitoring apps, and there are many others on the market for each Android and Apple units. An amazing majority of them are free, so if you’re interested by seeing the Northern Lights or their Southern cousin, take the time to strive them out and see which one would possibly suit your wants the perfect.