The problem with the Northern Lights is you have to wake up in the middle of the night to see them – and if you’re sleeping you won’t know when to wake up.

John Wunderlin has a solution for this dilemma.  He created an alert system – so anytime one of the Iowa County Astronomers views the Northern Lights, you’ll receive a phone call.  Don’t worry – it’s a robo-call, so you don’t need to talk to anyone.

Here’s a link to John’s original post explaining how to sign up for the Aurora Alert. We can confirm that it works, since we received a call last night at 2:17 a.m..

One of these times, we’re going to get out of bed and go see them.

– Contributed by the Hays

Red Aurora, Mineral Point October 2011, Image by John Wunderlin