While I was at the National Science Teacher's Association National convention in Indianapolis, I received an interesting tweet asking if I would be interested in going to Alaska with GoPro cameras!

How does this happen? Simply, GoPro cameras, known for their tiny size and ability to capture great wide-angle HD video and stills, have been in support of plasma physicist, Ben Longmeier's science and outreach projects called Project Aether that examines the world using weather balloons and GoPro cameras. The outreach part involves students who want to collect data, too. Ben and his team were up in Alaska to gather some data about the wind, the curvature of the earth and about the aurora borealis from INSIDE the auroras.

Here, fellow science video producer Derek Muller (Veritasium) explains for us what the Northern Lights exactly are:

 

GoPro thought Ben's project should have more exposure and hired a Chicago PR firm to find reporters and bloggers to help spread the word. One of the employees, Leah Jones, asked her mother Linda Jones, for advice. Linda, being the lovely follower of mine on twitter insisted that I be invited!