Northern lights in mainland U.S. or Alaska only?

10 years 2 months ago #351005 by Jim Capozzi
Are the Northern lights visible anywhere in mainland U.S.?  Or will trip to Alaska  or Canada be my option for photographing?  Winter season is best time of the year from what I understand. 


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10 years 2 months ago #351019 by Joves
Well Alaska, and Canada are your best bets. Some of the northern states are not bad if the lights are extremely bright, or actually if there are large mass coronal ejections from the sun. In the northern border states it just takes a good dark sky site. But for your best results the further north you go the better. Besides you get to hear them as well when you are up that far to add to the experience. 


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10 years 2 months ago #351035 by Fitch
Depends on time of the year, both Alaska and Canada are 24 hour sunshine.  If you want to find these lights you will need to go go far north. 


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10 years 2 months ago #351111 by Superman
Joves, seriously there is a sound?

Nikon D90 & D40 18-55mm, 55-200mm, 35mm, 50mm, 105mm, SB600
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10 years 2 months ago #351117 by garyrhook
I believe that you could also consider Iceland.


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10 years 2 months ago #351119 by StephanieW
When I was living in Portland there was a time when everyone was going nuts because Northern Lights were going to be visible from our area. Unfortunately it was Portland and it was raining and nobody saw anything. Theoretically, though, they wer happening right above the clouds. No idea how vibrant they were, though. Stupid Portland weather. *sigh*


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10 years 2 months ago #351137 by Stacy Craig
I found some interesting sites:

Aurora Forecast:  www.gi.alaska.edu/AuroraForecast   This site has some cool information

How to view Aurora lights in Alaska:  gocalifornia.about.com/od/ak/a/nlights.htm  

Live cam of aurora:   aurorawebcam.com/

Alaska northern light tours:  www.alaska.org/things-to-do/northern-lights-viewing  


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10 years 2 months ago #351163 by StephanieW

Stacy Craig wrote: I found some interesting sites:

Aurora Forecast:  www.gi.alaska.edu/AuroraForecast   This site has some cool information

How to view Aurora lights in Alaska:  gocalifornia.about.com/od/ak/a/nlights.htm  

Live cam of aurora:   aurorawebcam.com/

Alaska northern light tours:  www.alaska.org/things-to-do/northern-lights-viewing  


Great finds!  Too bad the aurora webcam one seems to be a paid service.  I'd love to have watched it.  Also it's worth noting that while it's not easy to plan a big trip around the aurora borealis, you usually know about it a couple of days in advance.  If you can travel to a location on that short of notice you have good odds.  If you want to book a trip months in advance, it's a little trickier.


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10 years 2 months ago #351185 by RoseT
Here's the Northern Lights link on WikiTravel.  Looks like you can sometimes see them as far as 35 degrees.  That's about Albequergue NM or Memphis TN.  I'm going to assume that's pretty rare, though.


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10 years 2 months ago #351387 by Remy Hedrick
There's good fishing up there, I would have tough time picking camera or fishing rod!  


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10 years 2 months ago #351477 by Joves

Superman wrote: Joves, seriously there is a sound?


Yes when you are far enough in the north there is. It is akin to the sound of neon lights crackling at times. Remember that the aurora are electrically charged particles for the solar winds interacting with the earths atmosphere at the poles.


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10 years 2 months ago #351667 by Tony Bisson

Joves wrote:

Superman wrote: Joves, seriously there is a sound?


Yes when you are far enough in the north there is. It is akin to the sound of neon lights crackling at times. Remember that the aurora are electrically charged particles for the solar winds interacting with the earths atmosphere at the poles.



:agree:  


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