Where to see northern lights in usa3/31/2023 It’s also a jumping-off point for Denali National Park and the vast Alaska Interior. You can find many other fun things to do here, like restaurants, concerts, and museums. As the home of the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Geophysical Institute, it has its finger on the pulse of the lights. However, overall, it’s one of the best places in the country to see the northern lights.Ībout: The second-largest city in Alaska is also known as a gateway to the Arctic Circle. With so much daylight in the summers, you’ll have a small window of opportunity. You may have guessed that Alaska would top our list. Here are seven places to see the aurora borealis in the United States. But you definitely won’t unless you put yourself where it can happen. Remember, we can’t guarantee that you will ever see them. The Best Places in the United States to See the Northern Lightsīundle up! We’re headed toward the lights. Head north to find the breathtaking Northern Lights. You can also download an app for your phone called My Aurora. The agency’s Space Weather Prediction Center has a regularly updated Aurora Forecast, tips for viewing, and other resources. Specialists in the field keep track of conditions with studied precision.Ī helpful tool for tracking the lights comes from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, commonly called NOAA. Thankfully, it’s not completely a guessing game. Tracking the Northern Lightsīefore you hit the road, you’ll want to determine if it’s a good time to do it. Other factors include sunspot activity, solar wind cycles, and your proximity to the North Pole. However, the darkest and clearest skies often come in the wee hours of the morning. The northern lights can flash any time after sunset. You’ll want to find a place with suitable conditions but with bearable temperatures. Unfortunately, in many areas, clear and dark skies occur during the coldest months. ![]() This rules out most urban areas because they have too much artificial light, also called light pollution. ![]() You won’t catch this captivating sight just anytime and anywhere. According to the vice president of the American Optometric Association, who spoke to the Huffington Post, “the discrepancy occurs because the specific cells that our eyes use to detect light at night also happen to be terrible at detecting color.”īut don’t let that stop you from having an amazing experience, with or without your camera.īest Conditions for Seeing the Northern Lights Without the camera, you will likely only see milky white or gray shades and in better conditions, some greens and a little pink. However, the naked eye can’t detect all the colors. They move across the night sky somewhat like an energized rainbow. Under the right conditions, your camera may observe bright and vibrant shades of yellows, greens, blues, purples, pinks, and reds. Non-scientifically, this technicolor light show has a dazzling display of swirling colors. This is stronger in the northern hemisphere. What looks like vibrant lights dancing high above the horizon is the result of positively charged protons and electrons crashing into Earth’s magnetic field. ![]() Scientists use the term aurora borealis to define this amazing natural phenomenon.
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