Where will the Northern Lights be visible in the US?

Some of the major cities that may be able to view the Northern Lights include Seattle, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago and Boston – though NOAA advises that clear skies free of light pollution offer the best chance to view the aurora.

Where can I see the Northern Lights right now?

Can you see the Northern Lights in Spokane Washington?

SPOKANE, Wash. – The combination of a clear winter night and the nighttime arrival of a geomagnetic storm can mean a great chance to see the Northern Lights. During wintertime in the Inland Northwest though, those conditions rarely show up at the same time.

Can you see the Northern Lights in Alaska?

While the northern lights can be seen anywhere in Alaska, they’re visible most often in the Interior and Arctic regions.

What causes the northern light?

When the electrons reach Earth’s thin upper atmosphere, they collide with nitrogen and oxygen molecules, sending them into an excited state. The excited electrons eventually calm down and release light, which is what we see as the aurora.

Do Northern Lights appear every night?

While technically, the Northern Lights are present for much of the year, there aren’t enough hours of darkness to see them during the summer months, even above the Arctic Circle. The winter season in the Arctic lasts from late September to late March/ early April.

Do the Northern Lights make noise?

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.

Can you see Northern Lights with naked eyes?

Auroras appear to the naked eye as a very faint, white glow in the night sky to the magnetic north. Many auroras are totally invisible to the naked eye or can only be seen by looking at them indirectly, i.e. out of the corner of your eye. It is extremely rare to see them in colour with the naked eye.

How long do Northern Lights last?

How long do the northern lights last? Anywhere from 10 minutes to all night long, depending on the magnitude of the incoming solar wind.

Is a Northern Lights tour worth it?

Northern Lights tours are great because the tour operators have been chasing the Northern Lights for years and can find the best spots for potential viewing even when there is low hanging cloud cover. Most tour operators will even offer for you to join a tour the next evening if you don’t see the Northern Lights.

How often do the Northern Lights happen?

Fortunately, they occur frequently. “The northern lights are happening 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year,” said photographer Chad Blakely, owner of the northern lights tour company Lights Over Lapland (opens in new tab).

How do you photograph the Northern Lights?

How do you take a picture of the Northern Lights with a smartphone?

You can capture the northern lights on your smartphone using landscape mode, turning off the flash, and changing the focus to manual. Switch your camera to night mode and use the highest resolution possible. For better results, use a tripod and BlueTooth remote.

Where is the best place in the world to see Northern Lights?

1. Tromso, Norway. Based in the heart of the aurora zone in the Norwegian Arctic, the city is widely regarded as one of the world’s best places to see the Northern Lights.

How far south can you see the Northern Lights?

To observers at far-northern latitudes, the Lights are a frequent occurrence, but many who live in more temperate climates have never seen them, even though they are occasionally seen as far south as 35 degrees North latitude.

What are the chances of seeing the Northern Lights?

The math becomes that the propability of a clear night with northern lights is 0.3 x 0.35 = 0.105. In other words, to actually see the lights on any random night has about one in ten chance.

What is the furthest south the Northern Lights have been seen?

Yet at times of high solar activity, they can be seen much further south: during the great solar storm of August and September 1859, the colours typical of aurorae were seen in Honolulu, just 21° north of the equator.