Real-time aurora oval, Kp index and solar wind, plus your personal chance of seeing the lights tonight.
Colours show aurora probability from the NOAA OVATION model (about 30 minutes ahead).
Live probability at popular viewing places, from the NOAA OVATION model. Tap a place to open it on the map.
Observed and predicted Kp from NOAA, shown in your local time.
Tap a place to see it on the map. Kp = approximate level needed to see aurora overhead.
Photos never quite do it justice. Hit play for a few minutes of northern lights over snow, then check the live map above to see if tonight could look like this where you are. 🌠
The northern lights (aurora borealis) and southern lights (aurora australis) happen when charged particles from the Sun slam into gases high in Earth's atmosphere. 🌍 Here's a quick guide to reading the live data on this page and giving yourself a real shot at seeing them.
Four things need to line up: a strong enough solar storm, a dark sky, clear weather and an open view toward the pole. 🌌 Head away from city lights, give your eyes 15 to 20 minutes to adjust, and look north (south if you're in the southern hemisphere). The sweet spot is usually between 10 pm and 2 am local time. Type your location into the search box above and you'll get the probability, darkness and cloud forecast for your exact spot.
❄️ In the northern hemisphere, aurora season runs from late August to April, when nights are long and properly dark. Activity tends to peak around the March and September equinoxes. The Sun also runs on an 11-year cycle, and the years around solar maximum bring more storms. Down south, the best views are from Tasmania, New Zealand and Patagonia between March and September.
The Kp index runs from 0 to 9 and tells you how shaken up Earth's magnetic field is. At Kp 0 to 2 the aurora hugs the Arctic circle. From Kp 5 it can reach northern Europe and the northern US, and at Kp 7 or higher it can show up much further south. 💨 Two things usually kick off a storm: fast solar wind (above roughly 500 km/s) and a negative Bz, which means the magnetic field points south.
The glowing oval comes from NOAA's OVATION model, which estimates the chance of a visible aurora from live satellite data and refreshes about every 30 minutes. It's a model, not a camera. It shows where aurora is likely, even on the daylight side of Earth where you'd never see it. ☁️🌙 So always read the percentage alongside darkness, cloud cover and moonlight, which is exactly what the location check on this page does for you.
Bring a tripod and a wide, fast lens (f/2.8 or faster). A good starting point is ISO 1600 to 3200, a 5 to 15 second exposure and manual focus set to infinity. Go shorter when the curtains are bright and moving fast so they stay sharp. 🔋 Cold drains batteries quickly, so keep a spare warm in an inside pocket. Plenty of phones also have a night mode that handles a bright display nicely.
Kp is a 0–9 scale of geomagnetic activity. The higher the number, the farther from the poles the aurora can be seen.
Look on clear, dark nights between about 9 pm and 2 am local time, from autumn to early spring. Storms are more frequent near the equinoxes.
The live oval is based on NOAA's OVATION model and updates about every 5 minutes. It is reliable for roughly 30–90 minutes; multi-day Kp forecasts are less certain.
Close to the pole, in places like Tromsø, Abisko, Fairbanks or Yellowknife, even Kp 1 to 2 can be enough under a dark sky. Iceland and Finnish Lapland usually need Kp 2 to 3, Scotland around Kp 5, and the northern US Kp 6 to 7. The destination cards above show each place's live probability.
Yes. The southern lights (aurora australis) form a mirror-image oval around Antarctica. You can catch them from southern Tasmania, New Zealand's South Island, Patagonia and the Falkland Islands. Tap the southern hemisphere button on the map to see it live.
No. Solar wind takes roughly 20 to 60 minutes to travel from the satellite to Earth, so short-term nowcasts are fairly reliable, while forecasts several days out are much shakier. Clouds and moonlight can also hide a great show. Think of the percentage as a chance, not a promise.
AuroraLive combines NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center data with local cloud and darkness forecasts, so you can see where the aurora is, how strong it is and whether you can actually see it from your location. It works for both the northern lights (aurora borealis) and southern lights (aurora australis).