I've seen them happen once since I was born - 18 years. I lived in Philadelphia and never tried to observe there, but saw them once in my darker skies in New Jersey. How often do they happen in this area? Right now I'm about 40min from Philadlephia.

Hey Daniel,

I’ve seen them less than 10 times. Only one of those events was dramatic, about 2 years ago. I went out to the pine barrens for that one because I heard that there was a good chance that there would be an aurora show that night. It was awesome.

Still, my experience is that they are rare in this area, and that our light polluted skies are less than ideal for them.

 

According the NOAA Aurora map (http://www.sec.noaa.gov/pmap/pmapN.html), were do we have to be on the scale to see a slight chance of having the aururas occur?

Daniel...Since this is another page linked to by the site that you provided, you may have read this already. Anyway, I'll lend my thoughts on it.

http://www.sec.noaa.gov/Aurora/index.html

(edit... I forgot to add the link)

If you go to the lower half of this page you will see two charts, one for magnetic latitude, and another showing a Comparison of Auroral Boundaries from Kp and Auroral Activity Level at Local Midnight. Note that we are at about latitude 50. Also note that this means that we need to have a KP of 8, or a NOAA POES Auroral Activity Level of 10+ to see an aurora (they measure about the same thing, so they are interchangeable for making view predictions) Also, a clear dark sky is needed. And a reasonable horizon will help too.

The one time that I saw an intense aurora was a night that I responded to a prediction emailed to me by

http://www.spaceweather.com/ (you should register and read the emailed alerts promptly).

I drove out into the Pine Barrens to get the darkest skies possible, and when the show started I realized that I was in the wrong location. Wrong because I did not have a clear horizon. So I jumped in my truck and drove another 15 minutes to a fire tower. Every other time that I have seen the aurora it has been less than spectacular. Mostly a light red or pale greenish glowing patch. I now know that a good horizon is important because there might be a lot of activity at 10 degrees or less. Over the years I may have missed some great shows because I didn't get a clear horizon. This will be important even from where you live.

Anyway, good luck aurora hunting. I have not received any alerts lately as we are at a low point, but I think we are about to start the up swing with the peak coming in 2011. That being said, they can happen anytime and the email alerts will be very helpful to your quest..

 

great thanks! I will sign up. I remember a few years ago when we saw them, I could see them great right in my backyard! :)

I saw them once from Louisville, Kentucky.  It was 1957, and I was  11.  I am going to Reykjavik, Iceland.

I lived in New Jersey 25 years ago before moving to Northern New Hampshire. I would take my telescope out to the pine barrens around lake Osswago. Good dark skies out there. We see aurora up in NH only several times a year now as the sun is in a quite period. When it happens it's really spectacular. Good luck and...........

Clear Skies,

Michael

Mount Washington Valley Astronomy

Ah yes, the aurora borealis! On a good day they just spoil the entire night, on a bad day they spoil the entire day!

These bad boys aren't very common here in 60N but tend to show up at important star parties & such where they're usually not very welcome