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Generally, the aurora appears a few hours after sunset, when the sky is clear, and tends to become more intense around midnight. If you are lucky enough to get to see the aurora up north, here's how to get the most out of your observation night.
- Photograph The Aurora
Equipment required. To photograph the northern lights, you...
- The Colours of The Northern Lights
The following colours can be seen when the northern lights...
- Photograph The Aurora
It should be noted that if you are in the right place under the aurora, you can see very nice auroral displays even with low geomagnetic activity (Kp = 3 or 4). It must be dark: Go out at night. Get away from city lights.
Nov 6, 2023 · Then I detail almost 30 spots to see the northern lights in Canada in every province and territory so you can see them wherever you’re visiting. I also have a few tour and aurora photography tips too.
Jan 13, 2016 · The simplistic answer is because human eyes can't see the relatively “faint” colors of the aurora at night. Our eyes have cones and rods – the cones work during the day and the...
- Be in The Right Part of The World
- September to March Is Aurora Season
- Research A Few Spots
- Explore in Daylight – Especially If You Want to Get Photographs
- Use An App to Check Geomagnetic Activity
- Use A Real-Time Weather App
- Position Yourself with Clear View North
- Be Outside… A Lot
- Get Your Night Time Eyes
- Look For A Faint Misty Green Glow in The Sky
You need to be near the ‘Aurora Zone’. That’s somewhere between 66° and 69° latitude, just above the Arctic Circle. The typical countries are Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Greenland and Canada. In this post I’m in the Lofoten Islands (Norway) at around 67.5° latitude.
From September the skies get darker and the Aurora starts to become visible. Up to December it’s not too cold outside (compared to mid winter) and the roads are still fairly safe to drive on – in Norway at least. I have no experience of the Aurora in the other months but if you want snow covered landscapes and/or frozen lakes in your photographs, y...
I think it’s best to start off by finding some of the known local Aurora watching spots. You can of course scout out your own places, and if you’re anything like me you’ll end up naturally finding your own places later on. You can Google phrases like, [place you’re visiting] + ‘northern lights/aurora’. Image searches work well for this – google, In...
This isn’t hugely essential but it does help to be at least a little bit familiar with the place in daylight so you can get some ideas for shots. And there’s more chance you’ll discover new places when you can actually see where you’re going.
It’s geomagnetic storms that cause the Northern Lights to occur. The strength of these storms are measured on a scale of 0 to 9, called the Kp Index. The bigger the storm, the higher the Kp value and the further down in latitude the lights will be visible. For example, with a Kp value of 9 (a severe geomagnetic storm) it’s possible you’ll see the A...
Ideally you want the app to be as real-time as possible, using live satellite and meteorological data. Use this information to help you decide where to go, or which one of your chosen spots you’ll visit that evening. You need to aim for the clearest skies possible. I used the Yr weather map (https://www.yr.no) to help find a clear bit of sky. It’s ...
The Aurora often stretches from north west to east, so a viewing position with a clear panoramic view north is ideal.
The more you are outside the more chance you’ll have of seeing the Aurora. But also, assuming you are a tourist and you don’t know the local climate very well, it will help you get a good feel of the area and how the weather behaves.
Spend as little time as possible looking at your phone screen, or any screen. Remember to use night mode if you are using your phone, as well as turning the brightness right down to minimum.
A light show may start off as a very weak hardly visible green glow. It may start very early on in the night, as soon as the sun sets, or it may only appear much later into the night.
Jan 28, 2023 · 6. Aurora can and do occur at any time of night. If anyone in the aurora zone tells you exactly when to expect aurora, ignore them.
People also ask
What if I don't see the Aurora?
Why can't humans see the Aurora at night?
Can you see the Aurora up north?
Nitrogen shines as violet, hydrogen as blue and oxygen as green and red. In fact, the lights can occur at any time of the day, but we can’t see them unless it’s dark. The lights appear to...
