1/27/2024 0 Comments Best places to see northern lightsWhen it comes to U.S.-based northern lights hunting, Alaska is America’s most ideal locale. Fortunately, there are several places that tick those boxes. To have a good chance at seeing the lights, it’s best to head to the darkest, driest, clearest, northernmost places. Your best bet is to be between 60 and 75 degrees north (or south) latitude, but you can see them in lower latitudes, too-often down to 40 degrees if the storm is strong enough. In general, the strongest lights will occur in ovals around the magnetic poles. These are the northern (and southern) lights that we admire so much. Then, it interacts with the molecules in our atmosphere and emits bright light in red, purple and green. When the plasma hits the Earth’s magnetosphere, it starts to spiral down Earth’s magnetic field lines to the magnetic poles. If you’ve ever downloaded an aurora app, this is where those forecasts originate. They also check satellites that track the Sun’s real-time activity, like that of the Solar Dynamics Observatory. Space weather forecasters spend their time tracking these magnetic explosions and trying to figure out how that plasma will impact Earth. The Sun’s emission, or solar wind activity, operates on a roughly 11-year cycle of activity, which can lead to higher frequencies of northern lights at various points in that cycle. ![]() When that wind hits the Earth’s upper atmosphere, it creates the aurora or what we know as the northern (or southern) lights. In short, the northern lights (or aurora borealis) and southern lights (or aurora australis) are a result of solar winds or solar flares from the sun. What Are the Northern Lights?īut before we talk about where you can see them, it’s important to talk about what northern lights are, where they come from, when we’re most likely to see them and how to optimize those chances of seeing them. Earn 75,000 bonus miles when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening, equal to $750 in travel.
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