Where is the aurora most visible?
The best place to see the northern lights is any destination in the “auroral zone,” the area within an approximately 1,550-mile (2,500 kilometers) radius of the North Pole, according to the Tromsø Geophysical Observatory.
Where is the best place to see the northern lights in Fairbanks?
Fairbanks sits at a latitude of 64.8 degrees, and is widely considered by Alaskans to be the best place for viewing the phenomenon. Fairbanks is ideally located under the “Auroral Oval,” a ring-shaped zone over the far north where aurora activity is at its highest.
What are the chances of seeing the aurora?
Monitoring over many years the average chance of seeing the Northern Lights over a 4 night trip to Abisko is around 83%.
Can aurora be seen from Earth?
An aurora (plural: auroras or aurorae), also known as the polar lights or aurora polaris, is a natural light display in Earth’s sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic).
What is the best month to see aurora borealis?
Thanks to longer hours of darkness and clear night skies, December through March is usually the best time to observe this elusive natural phenomenon (though you can sometimes see the northern lights starting as early as August).
What is the best month to see the aurora borealis?
Since it does need to be dark in order to see the Northern Lights in the sky, late August/September through the very beginning of April is the best time to go to a destination located in the aurora zone for a chance to see them.
Do solar winds cause auroras?
When such gusts of solar wind reach Earth, they send charged particles racing along our planet’s magnetic field lines toward the poles, where they slam into the atmosphere. The incoming particles energize air molecules, triggering auroras. (Check out our picks for the seven best places to view auroras.)
Do aurora borealis make sound?
What is clear is that the aurora does, on rare occasions, make sounds audible to the human ear. The eerie reports of crackling, whizzing and buzzing noises accompanying the lights describe an objective audible experience – not something illusory or imagined.
How do you know if you can see the Aurora?
Further considerations are the weather at your location, and light pollution from city lights, full moon and so forth. In order to know whether you have a chance of seeing an aurora, you need to know the level of geomagnetic activity at the time you are viewing.
Is the aurora visible from the magnetic latitude?
Note that it is not necessary for the equatorward boundary of the aurora to reach all the way down to your magnetic latitude for you to see it. The aurora is easily visible even when its boundary is 4 or 5 degrees poleward of your location.
Where is the Aurora Borealis located in the world?
When geomagnetic activity is low, the aurora typically is located, in the hours around midnight, at about 67 degrees magnetic latitude*. As activity increases, the region of aurora expands toward the equator.
How is the equatorward boundary of the Aurora determined?
Africa-Indian Ocean-Australasia. The average equatorward boundary of the midnight aurora is shown for levels of magnetic activity ranging from relatively low, Kp=3, to very high, Kp=9. These maps were created using satellite observations to determine the average equatorward boundary of the aurora as a function of the Kp index**.