In contrast to the northern lights, the aurora australis are usually most prominent from March to September. The “ Dunedin Aurora Nowcast” site-run out of the University of Otago in partnership with the museum-helps track the auroras for when they are visible in the region. Ian Griffin, an astronomer who is the director of the Otago Museum in Dunedin, one of the southernmost cities in New Zealand, has long been tracking the lights. With less landmass in the south, the southern lights are perhaps less talked about as they mostly occur over water, but they can be seen over parts of New Zealand, and Australia and Tasmania.ĭr. The aurora australis-or southern lights-are the same phenomenon on the other side of the Earth. While travel to and from Australia and New Zealand is not yet an option for most potential visitors, residents there can plan to catch sight of a different aurora. The aurora australis or southern lights are mostly seen across Australia and New Zealand © Arrested Light Photography / Alamy Stock Photo How to see the southern lights However, these auroras are sudden and short-lived. In the solar maximum, the sun is more “active”, leading to northern lights that are caused by solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs). Luckily, there is a benefit of being closer to the solar minimum-it means that the lights can actually be more predictable. Phone: 800.762.0165 or 206.789.3880 4420 14th Ave NW Seattle, WA 98107 Fax: 206.782.5455. Read more: Catch the northern lights from your ice hotel: Norway's Far North is the ideal winter playground Can I still see the northern lights during the solar minimum? We’re currently closer to the minimum and will ramp up to the next expected maximum in July 2025. The solar minimum occurred in December 2019, which kicked off the start of a new solar cycle, known to experts at NOAA and NASA as Solar Cycle 25. This creates a lot of northern lights activity, followed by a couple of years of transition, then three to four years of solar minimum. NorthernLights over Seattle from last night/earlier this morning. While they are famously a night-time phenomenon, the northern lights are actually influenced by the activity of the sun.Īccording to Rodney, the sun goes through a roughly 11-year cycle, which includes three to four years of solar maximum. The northern lights, or aurora borealis, are caused when solar winds create disturbances in the magnetosphere. Is 2022 a good year to see the northern lights? The best time to see the lights differs slightly by country, but, in general, the peak season is between November and March. But overall, Rodney has some pretty simple advice for aurora hunters: “be patient and go north”.Ĭlear skies are a must for viewing the lights and, of course, staying in a destination for as long as possible will help increase your chances of spying them. The NOAA website has additional tips on where to view the aurora with links to maps that show where the light show can be seen. According to him, spots like Fairbanks in Alaska, Whitehorse, Yellowknife and Churchill in Canada, and Iceland and northern Norway are all safe bets. Rodney Viereck works at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) – a US government body that specializes in monitoring weather and atmospheric conditions. Once you’ve decided you’re ready to tick seeing the northern lights off your bucket list, the next decision is where to go. As I cup my hands around the camera screen I keenly feel the separation, several layers of glass between my naked eyes and the thing I’d come to see.The aurora borealis streak across the sky above the Lofoten Islands in Norway © Nutexzles / Getty Images Where is the best place to see the northern lights? I moved down a few main-cabin rows to where a photographer had set up a high-powered camera on the light show, its display screen rendering a fishhook of yellow and green, the color seeping upward slowly like a slow. The specially chartered night flight out of Whitehorse, a tour called Aurora 360, tries to minimize the chance of an aurora goose egg. The thrilling uncertainty feels familiar to a Pacific Northwesterner, given how Mount Rainier may pout behind the clouds just when you reach the perfect viewpoint or the orcas go absent during a whale-watching trip. Not every tourist destination stands as still as the Eiffel Tower or the Statue of Liberty no guarantee could ever make the ephemeral lights show up on schedule. But the main attraction is the enigmatic, all-natural light show that comes out at night, sometimes, mostly in winter. Whitehorse truly is a city with more than 25,000 residents it can boast an actual downtown, multiple museums, and more than one vegetarian restaurant. Almost half a million tourists make their way to the Yukon every year, a territory that sits atop British Columbia and backs into Alaska.
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