My grandparents will travel to Charlevoix QC (see screenshot below) from 3 to 11 Oct 2019. Can they see aurora borealis with the naked eye?
If yes, what are the best places to?
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1According to Wikipedia, the latitude of Charlevoix is only 47° north (about the same as Paris). I've lived at 56° north all my life and never once seen aurora borealis ...– hmakholm left over MonicaCommented Sep 24, 2019 at 13:20
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Note that the visibility of the aurora isn't constant with respect to latitude - in particular, since it's centered around the magnetic pole, it's often visible at lower latitudes in North America. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurora#/media/… vs. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurora#/media/…– ex-user3761894Commented Sep 24, 2019 at 18:24
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@HenningMakholm Did you get a chance to see the link in the answer below? Charlevoix is colored in green, but not Paris.– user13759Commented Sep 25, 2019 at 2:51
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@Greek-Area51Proposal: Hmm, the point about the magnetic pole being off-center is a valid one.– hmakholm left over MonicaCommented Sep 25, 2019 at 12:00
1 Answer
The aurora are centered around the magnetic poles and not the true north pole. Since the magnetic north pole is near Hudson Bay, Canada you are more likely to see aurora at lower latitudes in Canada than in Europe. The U. S. Government publishes a handy three-day aurora forecast map so you will have some idea of the activity closer to the visit. See this link. As with star-gazing the best place to see aurora are far away from city lights as possible on cloudless nights.