“Chasing the Cosmic Dance: Top Spots to Experience the Stunning Northern Lights in 2025”

Highlights

A rise in activity on the sun’s surface this year resulted in the most vibrant displays of aurora borealis in the past 500 years, as reported by NASA. However, if you weren’t able to witness the Northern Lights this year, forecasters anticipate that the peak will continue through 2025 and into early 2026.

Essential Information

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Where Will The Northern Lights Be Observable In 2025?

The northern lights are most prominently visible in Alaska and northern Canada for the majority of the year, although the intensity of solar events often draws the phenomenon south of the Canadian border. A “quiet” display—happening approximately twice a week during the “solar maximum”—is more distinctly seen in northern U.S. states like Washington, Idaho, North Dakota, and Minnesota, with a lesser chance in specific areas of South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Upper Michigan, according to NOAA. More states can witness “moderate” auroras, with a visibility line—indicating a minimal opportunity to see the event—stretched across regions in Wyoming, northern New York, and Maine. An “active” aurora, emerging from a “strong” geomagnetic storm, extends the northern lights to Oregon, Nebraska, Iowa, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Illinois. If auroral activity escalates to “very active” levels similar to the northern lights displays observed in May and October, additional states could potentially see the phenomenon, contingent upon the intensity of the geomagnetic storm.

Where Were The Northern Lights Most Observable In 2024?

The northern lights consistently appear in the night sky above Alaska irrespective of solar activity, based on NOAA’s findings. During less intense solar events, North Dakota stands a higher chance of experiencing the phenomenon compared to any other state, while states such as Washington, Minnesota, and parts of northern Idaho adjacent to the Canadian border have opportunities multiple times a month. Brand USA, an entity appointed by U.S. officials to promote tourism, suggests traveling to Idaho, Alaska, Maine, Minnesota, and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula as the prime locations to witness auroral activity. In October and May, the northern lights were drawn even further south, with the spectacle witnessed in northern Florida, California, Texas, and Kansas. During these two occurrences, auroral activity was recorded overthe New York City skyline and over a significant portion of the northern United States, encompassing even regions where the northern lights are typically not observed, such as Detroit.

What’s The Optimal Method To View The Northern Lights?

According to NOAA, auroral phenomena are best observed between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. local time from an elevated location, away from artificial light. Under ideal conditions, the displays can be perceived from distances as far as 620 miles.

What’s The Optimal Method To Capture Photographs Of The Northern Lights?

Smartphone cameras are particularly adept at sensing the hues of the aurora and can record the northern lights if night mode is activated, even if the phenomenon is not visible to the human eye, as stated by NASA. For those utilizing a traditional camera, National Geographic suggests employing a wide-angle lens, a high ISO setting, and focusing on the farthest possible distance.

What To Observe

NASA and other aerospace organizations have indicated an increase in missions within the upcoming years to gain a deeper understanding of space weather and its impacts. NASA’s Parker Solar Probe mission will approach the sun more closely than ever this month and is set to undertake three additional close encounters to investigate space weather “at the origin.” The European Space Agency initiated its Proba-3 mission on Dec. 5 to generate the first artificial solar eclipses. This mission involves two satellites that will orbit Earth elliptically for the next two years, enabling scientists to examine various characteristics of the sun’s surface, including the reasons the outer atmosphere is hotter than the sun, coronal mass ejections, and the acceleration of solar winds. The initial images from this mission are anticipated to be unveiled by the ESA in March.

Essential Background

The aurora borealis, a phenomenon characterized by swirling, vibrant lights in the night sky, arises from activity on the sun’s surface. Electrons from solar flares and coronal mass ejections engage with the oxygen and nitrogen present in Earth’s atmosphere, causing the atoms and molecules of these gases to become “excited” and subsequently release small bursts of energy in light form, as explained by NASA. Solar activity is monitored over an 11-year cycle, gradually escalating and diminishing throughout this duration, reaching a “solar maximum” and a “solar minimum.” NASA aims to enhance its understanding of the ramifications of occurrences like solar flares and coronal mass ejections, including assessing how Earth’s atmosphere reacts to influxes of energy that take place during more intense events. A deeper comprehension of space weather will be “crucial” for sending astronauts to the moon and Mars, as NASA remarked.

Additional Reading

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