Whats the best time of year to see the Northern Lights in Alaska?”
Alaska is by far the best place in the USA to see northern lights, because they occur in the “auroral oval, which is centered on the northern geomagnetic pole, and which usually passes over Alaska. March and September are the best months of the year, for a couple of reasons. First, Earth’s orbit is in a zone of maximum solar activity during these months. As NASA astronomer Sten Odenwald notes, observations from Yerkes Observatory in Wisconsin during a 55-year period spanning five sunspot cycles confirm that March and September are the most frequent months for auroras and January and July the least likely. Most solar activity comes from regions of the sun outside the solar equatorial band plus or minus 10° to either side of the solar equator. Secondly, the months of March and September combine sufficiently dark skies with mild temperatures for comfortable viewing.
