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This depends mainly on your geographic location and how active the sun is at a given time: high latitude and high solar activity are not preconditions, but make Aurora sightings much more likely.

Northern or southern lights mainly can be seen after solar flares, huge eruptions on the surface of the sun, often followed by a coronal mass ejection, where high quantities of plasma (big swarms of electrons and protons) are expulsed. These solar flares can happen frequently when the sun is highly active.

In average, you have a solar activity maximum every 11 years. A couple of years with high solar activity is followed by years with low or almost none (a good indicator is the number of sun spots). At the moment (Jan 09), solar activity is very low, but it is of course expected to increase during the next couple of years.

If you are located at higher latitudes (close to the polar circles / poles), Auroras are much more frequent and can also be observed regularly during times of very low solar activity. During times of high solar activity, it's not so rare to see aurora also at mid latitudes (like central Europe or the more northern states of the USA). Rarely, it can also be watched in low latitude countries.

To get the newest data about the solar activity and polar lights, visit http://www.spaceweather.com

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12y ago
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9y ago

Being at higher latitudes make it easier and more likely that a person will see the Aurora Borealis. At times of high solar activity the Aurora Borealis is also more likely to be seen.

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Q: What conditions need to be just right to have the chance to see the Aurora Borealis?
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