Aurora FAQ

What Kp do I need to see the aurora in Michigan, Minnesota, or Washington?

For the northern tier of the US you typically need about Kp 5 (a G1 storm) to catch aurora low on the northern horizon, and Kp 6–7 (G2–G3) for it to climb higher or appear overhead. Your geomagnetic latitude matters more than your map latitude — the northern US sits at a higher geomagnetic latitude than its geographic one, which is why it sees aurora more readily than places at the same latitude in Asia. Enter your city on the dashboard for the number at your exact spot.

Can you see the northern lights with your eyes, or only with a camera?

Both — but they look different. Your eyes see aurora best when it's bright and overhead; faint aurora low on the horizon often reads as a pale grey glow to the eye while a phone camera (night mode) or a long-exposure shot reveals green and pink. That's not a trick: camera sensors gather light over seconds and are more color-sensitive in the dark than human night vision. Give your eyes 20+ minutes to dark-adapt, and take a test photo to the north even when you think there's nothing there.

How much warning do you get before an aurora?

Two kinds. A CME-driven storm can be forecast a day or more ahead as a NOAA G-storm watch. But the sharpest signal is the solar wind measured at the L1 point about 1.5 million kilometres sunward: when its magnetic field turns strongly southward, aurora tends to follow within roughly 30–60 minutes (the time it takes that wind to reach Earth). Aurorix computes and shows that lead time when conditions turn favourable.

Is 2026 still a good year for auroras?

Yes. Solar Cycle 25 peaked in October 2024, so 2026 is the declining phase — but historically the strongest storms of a cycle arrive in the declining years, and geomagnetic activity peaks around the equinoxes. 2026 has already produced a Kp 9- storm in January and a major flare in February, and the September–October window is a prime near-term bet.

What is Bz?

Bz is the north–south component of the interplanetary magnetic field carried by the solar wind. When Bz points south (a negative value), it links up with Earth's field and pours energy into the system — that's what powers a good aurora. A strongly southward Bz sustained for 20+ minutes is a better real-time sign than the Kp number, which is a 3-hour average that lags.

Why does the Kp forecast keep changing?

Kp is a planetary average computed over 3-hour blocks, so it's always a little behind what's happening right now, and the forecast updates as new solar-wind data arrives. Treat Kp as the big-picture backdrop and the live solar wind (Bz, speed) as the minute-to-minute signal.