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Guided map tour · Space & Technology
Tromsø, Norway (69°N) sits inside the auroral oval — the ring around the magnetic pole where aurora activity peaks. From September to March, the city…
Open this tour on the live map →Tromsø, Norway (69°N) sits inside the auroral oval — the ring around the magnetic pole where aurora activity peaks. From September to March, the city experiences polar night, making it the world's top aurora destination. The Northern Lights occur when charged particles from solar wind collide with atmospheric gases at 100–300 km…
Iceland's lack of light pollution and position at 64°N makes the entire island an aurora viewing platform. The best displays occur during high Kp-index events (5+), when the auroral oval expands southward. Iceland also sits on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge — one of the few places where tectonic plates are visible above sea level.
Fairbanks, Alaska is home to the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska, which pioneered aurora research. The city sits directly under the auroral oval at 64°N. Aurora borealis is caused by the solar wind — a stream of plasma from the Sun traveling at 400–800 km/s. When it hits Earth's magnetosphere, particles are funneled…
Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada sits beneath the auroral oval and has flat terrain with minimal cloud cover — ideal for aurora photography. The city experiences 240+ nights of aurora activity per year. Aurora colors depend on altitude: green at 100–200 km (oxygen), red above 200 km (oxygen), blue/purple below 100 km (nitrogen).
Kiruna, Sweden hosts ESRANGE — the European Space and Sounding Rocket Range, used for aurora research since 1966. The town is also home to the world's largest underground iron ore mine (LKAB). Kiruna sits at 67°N, well within the auroral zone. The nearby Abisko National Park is considered one of Earth's best aurora viewing locations due…
Murmansk is the world's largest city above the Arctic Circle (population ~270,000). Despite extreme cold (-30°C winters), it remains ice-free due to the North Atlantic Current. The Kola Peninsula has been used for Soviet/Russian aurora and ionosphere research for decades. During strong geomagnetic storms (Kp 7+), aurora can be visible as…
The Southern Hemisphere has its own aurora — Aurora Australis. Queenstown and Stewart Island in New Zealand's South Island (46°S) occasionally see spectacular southern lights, especially during high Kp events. Aurora Australis is less commonly photographed because most land at equivalent southern latitudes is ocean. Antarctica offers the…
Ushuaia, Argentina (54°S) — the world's southernmost city — occasionally witnesses Aurora Australis during strong geomagnetic storms. The aurora oval is a mirror of the northern one, centered on the geomagnetic south pole in Antarctica. The NOAA OVATION model (shown on this map) predicts aurora probability in real-time using solar wind…
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Find this place on a blank map: which country and continent is it in?
Write down two facts you learned about this place.
Why does this place matter? Explain in one or two sentences.