Guide to hunting northern lights
Get better at spotting Auroras
Sep 3rd, 2022
Here are a few tips from my last 11 years of experience:
Understand what are Northern Lights
Yes, you saw an awesome picture of colourful bright lights in the sky and now you wanna see them too. Then you even joined a group of people who are into this hobby and you keep asking them "Can I see them tonight? Shall I go out now?" 😊
Invest some time in understanding what you're after, how it happens, where to look in the sky and what to trust.
It's like weather condition - people can only make a prediction and it won't bend to your will. You need to make an effort to see them or be content with pictures on your device OR depend on a **friend** who understands them (I get it, you wanna see them but don't wanna put that effort!).
Plan your hunt
Location, Location, Location!
So you studied a bit and now know what's aurora borealis and australis. You know which sites to trust, which apps to trust.
Who in your group to trust. You even know where to look for a forecast and how to interpret it. At this point you're feeling confident/hopeful and it's time to make things work. Very critical element to consider now is the location:
- Where are you going to hunt?
- Have you been there already for hunting or in day time?
- Does this place have a clean, dark, north and northwest view? (Ideally near a lake/sea or a large field)
- How long does it take to get there?
- Is there a shelter available nearby?
- What's the weather forecast for this location? Would you have clear sky?
Ideally, live near north pole, have a north-west facing balcony, so you can just look out from the comfort of your home. In real world conditions though, its a great advantage to be a few minutes away from a reasonable view-point. If you live even in Tampere or north of it - you have a significant advantage. However, if you live south of Tampere, try to find a good view-point in your area or a nearby area and learn to chase only stronger shows (KP5+) or plan your travel if there forecast shows a few consecutive days like this:
Make peace with not chasing weak shows and seeing pictures on the group when you decided to sit out. It's very important to have patience in hunting which brings us to the next component, Timing!
Timing
So, you're almost an aurora nerd now! and you know a great view-point within 20 minutes reach. But then for some reason, you have been missing many shows while others catch it! How frustrating that is to see so many pictures from people who actually went to the same venue where you were hunting 😿 What can you do to modify this in your favour?
Hunt with friends
When you go alone, you're likely to get bored sooner and lose patience to stay a few minutes longer. Make a hunting party of sorts - have at least one more person with you when you go hunting.
Don't wait for others to post pictures or APP notifications
When others have posted pictures on the group, it's often too late to go out (its worth trying though if numbers look good for near future). Know the numbers (KP/Speed/Density/Bz/Bt) or have at least one person in the group who does. There is usually a predicted window of time when we expect the storm to hit the earth, it has its error margin - see if you can widen your window of outdoor hunting.
Depending on the time of the year it could be very tricky to stay out longer. You can optimise your time a bit using sky cameras and feedback in the group. People/cams in North often see the lights before people in the South - so if you can see that the Pori cam is lit but Tampere is not yet - Go out already!
You can also wear proper clothes to be able to stay warm longer outside - some people even take their sleeping bags with them to keep warm longer. The longer you'd stay out hunting, higher your chances are to see the lights!
Less than 1% shows are as awesome as pictures
When people take pictures, they often use high end cameras and settings to capture much more light than a naked eye could see. This creates an illusion that the show is/was good - be aware of that. If you hunt long enough, you'd see very bright shows from naked eyes only less than 5% of the time (especially in South). Set your expectations accordingly. With a bit of luck, who knows, you may see the next show which is in that 5% 🤩
All the best!
Anupam
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