Can you see the aurora borealis in late July/early August in Yellowknife?
I am traveling to the Northwest Territories in late July to early August to Yellowknife and I hope to see the northern lights. Are they visible at this time of the year?
Astronomy & Space - 3 Answers
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1 :
If you get any night during those times, yes there is a chance of seeing it. You are certainly far enough North to see it. However there are no guarantees depending on the Sun's activity. You should check out this link, which will give you a heads-up on any predicted auroral activity. http://www.spaceweather.com/
2 :
Brief answer: Maybe. There are three things (other than clouds) that determine your ability to see the aurora: 1) Solar activity. The sun has been exceptionally quiet for the last year. (We should be climbing out of solar minimum now, but it hasn't happened yet.) 2) Your location relative to the magnetic poles of the earth. Yellowknife should be a great location. 3) Sky darkness. On August 1, the sky never gets fully dark at night at Yellowknife. The darkest time of night is 1:44 AM MDT, when the sun is 9.6 degrees below the horizon. Although the sky is not fully dark, I think it should be dark enough to see the aurora if present (although perhaps not the very faintest aurora). The best time to look will be when the sky is nearly as dark as it gets, and this happens from about 12:55 AM to 2:35 AM, when the sun is at least 9 degrees below the horizon. (For bright aurorae, you can expand this interval by 1 or 1.5 hours on either end.) Here are two links I like: http://www.spacew.com/www/aurora.php Look over the whole web page. It includes a map that "estimates the VISIBILITY of auroral activity from any location in the northern hemisphere." Right now, all of northern Canada lies within a faint green area. (Green represents a level of activity from nil to low.) http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/rt_plots/kp_3d.html Shows the "Kp index." The site mentions that levels of 5 or greater "indicate storm-level geomagnetic activity." The bigger, the better. If you have access to the internet at Yellowknife, you can track this index. Finally, of course, a bright moon can interfere. The moon is full on August 5, and will wash out the sky on this and surrounding days; this will make it more difficult to view the aurora unless it's very bright. You might bring a table of moonrise/moonset times so you know when the moon is up. You can produce one here: http://www.usno.navy.mil/USNO/astronomical-applications/data-services/rs-one-year-us Yellowknife has these coordinates: latitude: 62° 27' north longitude: 114° 22' west time zone: mountain daylight time (UT-6, or 6 hours west)
3 :
If conditions are right you may see an elaborate display.
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