Northern lights where can i see them

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If possible, leave yourself extra time to accommodate inclement weather. Iceland northern lights tours. ViaTour northern lights night tour from Reykjavik. Russia does have a decent swathe of the auroral zone in the northern zones, but such areas are relatively hard to get to and lack the tourism infrastructure most travelers want. You might get lucky and spot auroras while being in a more well-trodden area such as Moscow or St.

Petersburg, given those cities' relatively high latitudes, however. But make sure to stay as far away from light pollution as feasible. There are also plenty of options for good aurora viewing in North America. While far-eastern Canada tends to be cloudy, the shore of the Hudson Bay, the northern Canadian towns of Yellowknife or Whitehouse, or the west coast of Alaska are usually good bets. The city of Fairbanks itself can be a great choice for seeing northern lights without needing to go too far in the wilderness.

Alaska Tours' aurora tours. Northern Tales Yukon aurora tours. Northern Lights Tours. A traveler could also take a train across the auroral zone to the town of Churchill in Manitoba on the western shore of Hudson Bay — an area famous for its polar bear population.

Churchill Arctic Adventures tours. The northern lights result when charged particles streaming from the sun collide with molecules high up in Earth's atmosphere , exciting these molecules and causing them to glow.

The different colors of the northern lights come from different molecules: Oxygen emits yellow, green and red light; while nitrogen is responsible for blue and purplish-red hues. Earth's magnetic-field lines channel these solar particles toward the planet's north and south magnetic poles, which explains why auroras — the aurora borealis and its southern counterpart, the aurora australis — are high-latitude phenomena.

Indeed, the aurora borealis is visible most nights, weather permitting, within a band several hundred miles wide that's centered at about 66 degrees north — about the same latitude as the Arctic Circle.

This "standard" aurora is generated by the solar wind — the particles streaming constantly from the sun. But solar storms known as coronal mass ejections CME can ramp up the northern lights considerably and make them visible over much wider areas. However, if you're planning an aurora-viewing trip weeks or months in advance, you can't count on any help from a solar storm and should therefore head to a destination somewhere near the northern ring.

Related: The sun's wrath: Worst solar storms in history. The 7th Room has panoramic windows that make it perfect for spotting the northern lights. Destinations known for northern lights are often expensive. Think again. At the 7 Fells Hostel in Finland, the owner Tinja—a retired backpacker—is serious when it comes to spotting the lights.

She will personally wake you up or send you an SMS when the aurora spectacle is high. Yukon is a top spot to view the lights in Western Canada. Or head to Takhini Hot Springs , where you can connect mind and body as you watch the aurora borealis while soaking in degree mineral waters.

One of best places to view the northern lights on the planet is the mountaintop Aurora Sky Station in Swedish Lapland. To get there, head to Abisko National Park and ride a minute chairlift to the viewing tower. There, you can have a guided night tour with a Swedish fika coffee and a pastry or indulge in a four-course meal.

The Ice Bar at the 30th anniversary version of Sweden's legendary Icehotel. The legendary Icehotel —the world's first hotel of ice and snow in the north of Sweden—is celebrating its 30th anniversary with dazzling new installments and an ephemeral art exhibition. The new Kelo-Glass igloos are attached to a log chalet and each have a private sauna and fireplace. Watch the lights dance across the sky from the comfort of your bed. During the day, head out on reindeer and snow tank safaris. The winter nights come alive in Alberta.

Your best shot to see the aurora borealis is September through mid-May. Stay at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge , which offers dark-sky experiences. Vacations By Rail offers train tours to regions that are ideal for aurora borealis spotting.

The northern lights over the waters of Voyageurs National Park in Minnesota. Straddling the Minnesota-Canada border, Voyageurs National Park is a ,acre wonderland that offers up expansive views of impressive meteor showers and northern lights shows in the unpolluted skies. Voyageurs is working toward an International Dark Sky Park designation to highlight and preserve the vast views, which it hopes to earn in To fully immerse yourself in this experience—and the park that is one-third water—stay on a houseboat and think about the adventures the fur traders this park is named after experienced on these same waters many years ago.