I'm a huge fan of Aurora Borealis (Northen Lights) & Aurora Australis (Southern Lights) and I was planning my next vacation to one of the areas where I might get a chance to view them in person. However, besides the typical answer of Norway or Sweden, I want to know where else can one see such sights. Can someone please help by providing me with a link or reference to such a resource?
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3Welcome to TSE. As asked this question is too broad. You can either ask for online resources to find the locations or narrow the question down to just one or at most two countries, (which changes your question a lot.)– Willeke ♦Sep 23, 2016 at 21:17
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3Everything north of, say 65°N or south of 65°S.– JanSep 23, 2016 at 22:48
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For viewing, it is not just where the lights happen. You also need a clear sky. low light pollution, and a view of the appropriate horizon. I think Norway and Sweden get recommended because they have a lot of locations that meet all the requirements, not just being far enough north.– Patricia ShanahanSep 24, 2016 at 13:20
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1@Jan Actually, I think it's more like a ring, there is such as being too far north or south.– RelaxedSep 24, 2016 at 14:08
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Hi, welcome to TSE. I edited your question to prevent it from being broad, hope you don't mind. You can roll it back if you want, but that might cause it to be closed.– FiksdalSep 24, 2016 at 17:01
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1 Answer
The Aurora Forecast is one of the best resources I have found online for locating Aurora Borealis. It's a correlation between solar wind data from NASA and magnetic data from around the world.
But that requires you to already be in the Northern Hemisphere, as the long term predictions are not that accurate. But, if you read through the whole resource, you will better understand how far south you can see the Northern Lights and under what conditions.
I feel like it is quite rare to see lights going further south than Kp4 or Kp5, but it does happen once in a while.
There is also the same website but for Aurora Australis. And as you can tell, they are harder to see from common tourist destinations, as it has to up to Kp7 for them to even reach Tasmania.
