Where is aurora borealis visible

With Canada's Aurora you can see the northern lights at eye level. Another way to take northern lights viewing to new heights: aboard the Aurora Experience. Launched in February, , this private-chartered jet takes guests eye-level with the northern lights. They can also learn more about the aurora borealis from guest speakers during the flight.

In northern Sweden, the Treehotel is made up of six modern tree houses perched in the pines. The 7th Room has panoramic windows that make it perfect for spotting the northern lights. Destinations known for northern lights are often expensive. Think again. At the 7 Fells Hostel in Finland, the owner Tinja—a retired backpacker—is serious when it comes to spotting the lights. She will personally wake you up or send you an SMS when the aurora spectacle is high.

Yukon is a top spot to view the lights in Western Canada. Or head to Takhini Hot Springs , where you can connect mind and body as you watch the aurora borealis while soaking in degree mineral waters. One of best places to view the northern lights on the planet is the mountaintop Aurora Sky Station in Swedish Lapland.

To get there, head to Abisko National Park and ride a minute chairlift to the viewing tower. There, you can have a guided night tour with a Swedish fika coffee and a pastry or indulge in a four-course meal.

The Ice Bar at the 30th anniversary version of Sweden's legendary Icehotel. The legendary Icehotel —the world's first hotel of ice and snow in the north of Sweden—is celebrating its 30th anniversary with dazzling new installments and an ephemeral art exhibition. The new Kelo-Glass igloos are attached to a log chalet and each have a private sauna and fireplace. Watch the lights dance across the sky from the comfort of your bed. During the day, head out on reindeer and snow tank safaris.

The winter nights come alive in Alberta. Your best shot to see the aurora borealis is September through mid-May. Stay at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge , which offers dark-sky experiences. Get Aurora Alerts customized for your location. Now, find the Kp number line on one of the following maps that matches the Kp number predicted above. If you are located at or above the estimated Kp line, you are in the right spot. You might even be in luck if you are located within next lower line, but you will have to look lower on the horizon.

Be aware though, ground based light pollution and weather will have a greater impact at these more marginal locations. North American Kp Map. The Kp number gives nice info on how large the storm is, but the Ovation map does a better job of telling you if you can actually see it. But keep in mind that Ovation is an average, so it changes more slowly than the more dynamic Kp forecast above.

It gives a 20 to 40 minute forecast of the predicted size of the aurora along with a color-coded probability of seeing the aurora over various spots on the Earth. Here is the most up-to-date image: It's a good sign if you see a thick aurora band with some areas of light yellow, orange or, better yet, RED on this map as opposed to just a thin or transparent band with only dark green. The size of a visible Aurora will be bigger than what is shown on this map, because the map gives the overhead location of the Aurora.

The area of a visible aurora is greater because it can be seen at spots other than 90 degrees directly up straight above your head. The Aurora might be visible at 45 degrees, 30 degrees or even lower on the horizon depending on its brightness. Although an Aurora can happen with a positive Bz, a negative Bz is generally better. A negative Bz helps the solar wind grab the earth's magnetic field which can more easily lead to an Aurora. So a negative Bz is good.

In the Northern Hemisphere, the phenomenon is called the northern lights aurora borealis , while in the Southern Hemisphere, it's called the southern lights aurora australis. The bright colors of the northern lights are dictated by the chemical composition of Earth's atmosphere. While solar wind is constant, the sun's emissions go through a roughly year cycle of activity.

Sometimes there's a lull, but other times, there are vast storms that bombard Earth with extreme amounts of energy. This is when the northern lights are at their brightest and most frequent. The last solar maximum, or period of peak activity, occurred in , according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NOAA , placing the next one in approximately Despite plenty of advances in heliophysics and atmospheric science, much about the northern lights remains a mystery.

NASA is also on the hunt for clues about how the northern lights work. In , the space agency launched the Parker Solar Probe , which is currently orbiting the sun and will eventually get close enough to "touch" the corona. While there, the spacecraft will collect information that could reveal more about the northern lights. On Earth, the northern lights' counterpart in the Southern Hemisphere is the southern lights — they are physically the same and differ only in their location.

As such, scientists expect them to occur simultaneously during a solar storm, but sometimes the onset of one lags behind the other. The hemispheric asymmetry of the aurora is in part due to the sun's magnetic field interfering with Earth's magnetic field, but research into the phenomenon is ongoing. Like the northern and southern lights, STEVE is a glowing atmospheric phenomenon, but it looks slightly different from its undulating auroral counterparts.

A study published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters discovered that STEVE is the result of two mechanisms: The mauve streaks are caused by the heating of charged particles in the upper atmosphere, while the picket-fence structure results from electrons falling into the atmosphere.

Auroras occur on other planets, too — all that's required to make an aurora is an atmosphere and a magnetic field.