British Astronomical Association Aurora Section, fl 1964 - 2001

The British Astronomical Association Aurora Section encourages observation of the aurora and of the noctilucent clouds that are visible in the period May - August in the northern hemisphere. It is involved in the recruitment and training of observers, and collection, analysis and reporting on the occurrences of auroral events. The present observer network comprises members of the British Astronomical Association and other astronomical societies, individual observers, professional meteorologists and ships' officers at sea, with observations collected from Canada, the United States, Iceland, The British Isles and other European countries. Details of observations are exchanged regularly with the Royal New Zealand Astronomical Society Aurora Section, which co-ordinates observation of phenomena in the Southern Hemisphere.

The Association became involved with noctilucent cloud studies (NCS) in 1964 when James Paton, late director, initiated an annual report in Meteorological Magazine . This work was undertaken under the auspices of the Balfour Stewart Auroral Laboratory, which was based in Edinburgh University Department of Meteorology, with a geophysical unit of the British Antarctic Survey, from 1965 - 1974. It was continued by staff in the Department of Meteorology after Paton's death in 1973, and in 1983 was taken over by the officers of the Aurora Section of the British Astronomical Association.

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