Have you ever seen the Northern Lights? At the start of this week, AuroraWatch UK sent out an email alert to its members that the Aurora Borealis would be visible across the UK that evening. Four hours later it sent out another email saying unfortunately the prediction was incorrect.
So how did scientists based at Lancaster University get the prediction so wrong? Did they have an error in the algorithm? Did they use flaky crowd-sourced data from Wikipedia? Did they miss out a minus sign? It was none of those. It turned out that one of the specialist magnetometers they use to detect the earth's magnetic field was detecting the groundskeeper driving past it on a motorised lawnmower.
This video shows a montage of beautiful images of the Aurora Borealis, accompanied by the beautiful sounds of folk-band Renaissance singing their hit single, Northern Lights. However, the song isn't referring to the atmospheric displays of the Arctic night sky. The song was written by Bolton-born Annie Haslam and is about her leaving the lights of the north of England behind when she went to work in America.
About SKILLZONE News This article comes from the SKILLZONE email newsletter, published monthly since January 2008, and covering topics related to technology and the internet. All articles and artwork in the SKILLZONE newsletter are orignal content.