Trip to see the Northern Lights

Sounds fun, and I'm curious to see what the tips are. Most of the CG's in the Northern regions close for the Winter, and Winter is when the lights are most active, or at least, have the best odds because of longer nights and clearer night skies.

Can't help much. We did go to Alaska (flew) a number of years ago. Went in early/mid August as we wanted to have nights as long as possible but before (what I had read) the likely hood of cloudier/rainier weather that may begin in September.
We did get to see the northern lights even that early in the year. But that was the first time they had been visible that summer. Don't know how far north or how late in Canada you may have to go to have a decent chance of seeing them though.

http://www.auroravillage.com/


............... or you could fly to Yellowknife.

I regularly follow a blog by Astro Bob. He lives in Minnesota north of Minneapolis and often posts pictures of the Aurora visible from his area. His most recent Aurora posts are from mid-February with some great pictures here (scroll down about half way).

NOAA also has an Aurora Forecast.

Another resource is spaceweather.com

Wonder if Northern Maine is enough?

I spent xmas on Lake Superior, but despite crystal clear days and active Auroral conditions, it managed to cloud up every night.

BB_TX wrote:

We did get to see the northern lights even that early in the year. But that was the first time they had been visible that summer. Don't know how far north or how late in Canada you may have to go to have a decent chance of seeing them though.

Born and raised on the Kenai (about 62 degrees north), and we rarely saw the Northern Lights even in winter. You typically have to be further north like around Fairbanks. However the current CMEs the sun is throwing off have been creating some spectacular displays, so if that continues there's a good chance of seeing things at much lower latitudes.

Moved from Forum Technical Support

Here is a map that shows where the Lights are visible with various aurora intensities. You may have to click the drop down to actually see the North American view. As you can see, the first place in the lower 48 from which the aurora can be seen is near Lake of the Woods, Minnesota. As others have said, its not that aurorae occur more often in the winter, actually September & March, the equinoxes are statistically the best time, but the winter darkness allows them to be SEEN more often.

Looks like the Dalton Highway is a good candidate then, too bad it will never get fully dark when I'm going to visit :(

The aurora was quiet this winter, until mid-February. Since then, there have been some superb displays.
http://yukonsights.ca/20140219_Aurora.html

Sometimes, aurora not visible to the eye is caught by a camera. Often, the reds can't be seen but some camera lenses will pick the colour up.

In summer, if you're out and it is dark enough, it never hurts to keep looking but it rarely is worth waking up and waiting through the night. Even in winter, the displays might be superb for 15 minutes then fade away until another time.

Feb 19 was excellent, with the aurora moving VERY fast.



The next shot, the red wasn't visible to me and the other colour was barely visible. It took a long exposure and high ISO with the camera to get what I did get with the ultra-wide angle 10-22mm lens. My 24-105mm lens does not capture as much.