Neat. I had seen some of those timelapse videos so I thought their movement was visible only when sped up. I shall visit either artic circle one day, and see for myself. I’m in the southern hemisphere so maybe… South Africa ? Can I see them from SA ?
Well, yes, but it’s not the same thing as the acrtic/antacrtic circle.
The farthest south points of SA are around 34.4 degrees S. That’s actually very close to the equator, relatively speaking. The Northern hemisphere equivalents are Cyprus, half of Tunisia, Rabat, Tehran, and then in North America, just north of Los Angeles, the entire Texas panhandle, and almost Atlanta. I have family that live just above that line, and back in May 2024 they couldn’t actually see the northern lights, they could only see a faint red glow with their phones. Most good smartphone camera apps can take a slow enough shutter speed photo that it’s better in low light at seeing them than our eyes. If you see those pictures of a red curtain, that’s what you’ll get. And you genuinely might not be able to see anything with your bare eyes.
The place I was at was 68.7 degrees North, so above the Arctic circle which is at 66.5 degrees. Up there the magnetosphere is more vertical, so the ions come straight down, which is why you get more dramatic ribbons. At lower latitudes the magnetosphere is more of an angle, so the ions slowly hit the atmosphere and give up energy slowly, not all at once. (At the equator, the earth’s magnetic field is basically horizontal, which is so weird) Even Tasmania and southern Chile are, respectively, as far south as Marseilles and Edinburgh are north (or between Toronto and Ontario and the upper half of Newfoundland). Not exactly known for their aurora viewing spots unless there’s a crazy solar storm.
If you look at the aurora ovals on https://spaceweather.com/ you can see that most of the action is close to Antarctica. Sadly, the Southern Sea really makes it hard to see good Southern Lights other than from Antarctica.
So it might depend on the day, but sometimes the bands will wobble or split or something quickly. And I should clarify that I say “quickly” and “fast” also because I was expecting the time lapse thing like you said, like it was going to be a static, barely moving curtain of green. It was “fast” not like some inflatable tube man thing, but more like the pace of a stream or small river. You can watch it change in front of you. It moved fast enough that other people staying where we were were outside maybe 10 meters away, and then a band would do something and they were cheering it and shouting “whaaa?!?!” It was quite the show, and it wasn’t just me that thought so.
In terms of access and availability, if you’re in the Eastern hemisphere, you can probably take Turkish airways to Finland in 2 flights for less than trying to get to Tasmania or Chile from the same place.
Neat. I had seen some of those timelapse videos so I thought their movement was visible only when sped up. I shall visit either artic circle one day, and see for myself. I’m in the southern hemisphere so maybe… South Africa ? Can I see them from SA ?
edit I can https://capetimes.co.za/news/environment/2025-06-03-aurora-australis-could-light-up-south-african-skies-this-week-heres-how-to-see-it/
Well, yes, but it’s not the same thing as the acrtic/antacrtic circle.
The farthest south points of SA are around 34.4 degrees S. That’s actually very close to the equator, relatively speaking. The Northern hemisphere equivalents are Cyprus, half of Tunisia, Rabat, Tehran, and then in North America, just north of Los Angeles, the entire Texas panhandle, and almost Atlanta. I have family that live just above that line, and back in May 2024 they couldn’t actually see the northern lights, they could only see a faint red glow with their phones. Most good smartphone camera apps can take a slow enough shutter speed photo that it’s better in low light at seeing them than our eyes. If you see those pictures of a red curtain, that’s what you’ll get. And you genuinely might not be able to see anything with your bare eyes.
The place I was at was 68.7 degrees North, so above the Arctic circle which is at 66.5 degrees. Up there the magnetosphere is more vertical, so the ions come straight down, which is why you get more dramatic ribbons. At lower latitudes the magnetosphere is more of an angle, so the ions slowly hit the atmosphere and give up energy slowly, not all at once. (At the equator, the earth’s magnetic field is basically horizontal, which is so weird) Even Tasmania and southern Chile are, respectively, as far south as Marseilles and Edinburgh are north (or between Toronto and Ontario and the upper half of Newfoundland). Not exactly known for their aurora viewing spots unless there’s a crazy solar storm.
If you look at the aurora ovals on https://spaceweather.com/ you can see that most of the action is close to Antarctica. Sadly, the Southern Sea really makes it hard to see good Southern Lights other than from Antarctica.
Here’s a video from directly beneath one band, but it moves not exactly slowly. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDSkj8Ns6H8&t=15
And this one as well - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIZeEoC4TuY&t=14
So it might depend on the day, but sometimes the bands will wobble or split or something quickly. And I should clarify that I say “quickly” and “fast” also because I was expecting the time lapse thing like you said, like it was going to be a static, barely moving curtain of green. It was “fast” not like some inflatable tube man thing, but more like the pace of a stream or small river. You can watch it change in front of you. It moved fast enough that other people staying where we were were outside maybe 10 meters away, and then a band would do something and they were cheering it and shouting “whaaa?!?!” It was quite the show, and it wasn’t just me that thought so.
In terms of access and availability, if you’re in the Eastern hemisphere, you can probably take Turkish airways to Finland in 2 flights for less than trying to get to Tasmania or Chile from the same place.