The Southern Lights

• Britt
  July 16th, 2008 at 11:12 pm

  I live in a smaller city in Canada, so the Northern Lights are commonplace during the winter (I.E., I can see them from my deck). They have sort of an eerie, hovering glow about them, almost like you can hear them. Certainly breathtaking! I hope you can experience them some day!

• Mike W
  July 16th, 2008 at 11:56 pm

  I’ve seen the northern lights as far south as London, Ontario (2 hours NE of Detroit). A friend was lucky enough to have a hot tub and a bunch of us would spend the evening in -20 degree weather steaming and watching the colors undulate across the sky. Very cool.

• artbot
  July 17th, 2008 at 1:44 am

  I have never seen the northern lights, and have searched high and low to answer a question I have about them: How fast do they really move? I’ve seen all kinds of time-lapse footage, but it’s never mentioned what the actual time passage of the sequence is (like, here’s 3 hours compressed into 30 seconds, or whatever). So how fast do they move?

  I live near Seattle, and sadly, we get all the sucky norther weather with none of the Aurora.

• R00B0y
  July 17th, 2008 at 2:04 am

  I am a former Canuck from Calgary, the lights are not only out in the cold winter, but can also be seen throughout the year. They are more common in winter, but I think it is because the days are shorter and the pure night comes quicker so you see them more regularly.

  I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been driving through Alberta in the wee hours of the morning (1-4AM) and have pulled over to lay be in a field to enjoy the Aurora in the summer time… its rare but amazing… and not surprisingly a LOT more enjoyable then when its 30 below!!!

• supaswag
  July 17th, 2008 at 2:30 am

  I saw a really good one in Iceland at the North fjords this spring. We stayed for a nearly 2 weeks but saw a proper big one only once in a very cold night [after eating rotten shark & sheep's testicles]. We where gasping like teenagers on E and the locals found that quite amusing.

• Larfin Jackarse
  July 17th, 2008 at 6:20 am

  IMHO,

  having seen both sets of lights from non-good points ie Northern Finland and floating on a boat about a ‘000 clicks south of Adelaide (Oz).

  The Northern Lights are fantastic (ok, I was closer than in the south). They whip slowly across the sky and are totally are like of the class of mesmerism.

  After seeing these, I read a book by Billy Bryson that made me think that a special trip just to see these to far, far north would be worth it, no matter the cost.

  IMO, if you haven’t seen them, then you should.

• Leech
  July 17th, 2008 at 8:04 am

  I hope to see those *thern lights sometime.
  In the meantime I listen to Miranda - Northern Lights album that is great.

• gtron
  July 17th, 2008 at 10:01 am

  Nova on PBS had a show on about them last night, so watch for that - explained the whole thing…
  ps. watching video is cool, seeing them full blown, live, is one of the most amazing visual spectacles you could imagine, better than a solar eclipse I would wager.

• MidwestMedic
  July 17th, 2008 at 1:13 pm

  I recommend going to Isle Royale National Park in Lake Superior. The Northern Lights are visible in the summer, like people have said. but, I still would wait until late summer. The reason for going to Isle Royale is because there is very very little light “pollution” out in the middle of the big lake and so you get really dark nights…and good viewing conditions for the northern lights as well as the whole milky way. http://www.nps.gov/isro

• Ali S.
  July 17th, 2008 at 3:23 pm

  Thanks for all the info folks! Living in Toronto, Ontario can be a real bummer for star gazers like myself. The amount of light pollution really ruins any chance of seeing a good clean sky. I may take a trip to the West and then travel Northwards from there.

• Lionheart
  July 17th, 2008 at 7:33 pm

  God, that`s beautiful.

• Alex
  July 22nd, 2008 at 3:12 am

  Very, very cool - great find Ali S!

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