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 Cosmic Debris is an Aurora Borealis (AKA the Northern Lights) monitor menu item. It monitors two internet data sources for the probability of an Aurora event. The menu icon then displays the likelihood of an event using a color scheme: green for low probability, yellow for medium probability, red for high probability (and active for PCAF), and gray for unknown. Options include having a popup window, email or sound alert you of upgrades to the probability levels, auto updating and more. Remember, this is a probabilty monitor. It doesn't actually tell you if the Northern Lights are active or not, but rather the likelihood that they could be active.
First, start the app by double clicking on the icon. An icon with High, Med, Low or "???" (meaning unknown) will now appear in your menu bar. Next, choose which source you want to be the primary. This means if you would prefer to have the icon display the probability for high latitudes (northern US and Canada, such as Minnesota, Washington, Alaska, etc), middle latitudes (Illinois, Iowa, New York, etc), low latitudes (southern US), or the PCAF level. The PCAF level is a bit different from the other three choices. PCAF stands for "Polar Cap Absorption Factor". It's used mostly for determining the possibility of satellite and radio blackouts as a result of a solar flare, but can also mean there are aurora occurring as a result of the flare.
Cosmic Debris requires Mac OS X 10.4.x or higher.
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