Where You Can View Auroras

 

 

Although auroras can be present 24 hours of the day, they can't be viewed during the day because the sun outshines them. The best time to view them is at night.

The strength of the aurora depends on the sun's activity. The more explosions (solar flares) that occur, the more particles and solar wind are released, causing more excited particles on Earth and thus, bigger and better auroras.

Since the particles travel along the magnetic field lines, they are concentrated around the magnetic poles. The come in from all directions along the magnetic field, creating an oval structure. Depending on the solar activity the size of the oval can vary so that the latitude at which it can be viewed changes though on average, they best places are around Greenland , Alaska , Siberia , and Antarctica.

Taken from Space Weather Now

This image shows the aurora activity around the north pole on April 11, 2004, where red is high acitivty and blue is the least activity. Websites can keep you updated up to the minute with satellite images.

To get an auroral forecast for your area there are many websites to browse through.

 

 

Previous - Title - Next