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Comment by dheera | Hacker News Reader

If you are in truly favorable conditions it is actually very easy to see the northern lights with the human eye. It is very in-your-face, ghostly, and hard to miss. Northern Norway and Sweden are smack in the middle of the aurora belt and have a much greater chance of such conditions than the Netherlands, and you see highly-visible auroras almost every couple of weeks when there is a clear sky, and less-visible auroras almost every day there is a clear sky. I would recommend Abisko followed by Tromso if you want near-ideal conditions.

On less-favorable days what you say is true: it is hard to see with the naked eye and a camera works wonders.

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As someone who grew up in far north Sweden, a few caveats:

1. Clear skies are not very common. Ours is a cloudy land.

2. You also need a firmly set sun. This rules out ~6 months.

3. The clear arctic winter nights that often provide a spectacular show are really cold.

4. Ideally, you'd be outside of city lights.

That said, the Northern Lights are among the coolest things you can ever see. Photos don't do justice. I would definitely recommend it over Midnight Sun, which at the end of the day look exactly like any other sun.

Yep, I've been there. I should say though:

1. Abisko has way more clear nights than almost any other place in the arctic circle. Yes, it can be cloudy, but your chances in, say, Canada are comparatively very grim.

2. This applies to just about anywhere within the arctic circle.

3. The cold winters of arctic Sweden are much, much milder than similar latitudes of Russia or Canada. That there exist plenty of towns, an electrified train line, and actual infrastructure says a lot about this.

I know, I saw it a couple of times in Iceland and even in the Netherlands (shouted in excitement :p). In Iceland, Tromsø or similar it's easy to see with the naked eye (although not as vibrant in colors). In the Netherlands you have to be lucky (but luck favors the prepared mind…so keep an eye on NOAA satellites as they can give alerts for the upcoming hour). It's important not to look for that signature green look, but rather look for white streaks or other contrail/"cloud"-like formations, you can confirm aurora with your camera or by seeing it "dance" a little bit in less ideal conditions. Do note that solar activity goes in 11 year cycles, we've just had a peak (albeit a very mild one), next one is in a decade likely. But aurora is fickle a thing: solar, geological and weather conditions have to be right if you want to spot it at lower latitudes. And it can appear and dissepear right before your eyes.

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