How to Spot the Northern Lights in Minnesota

Photo by Anthony Peltier

Clear, dark skies are essential for successful aurora viewing . Luckily for Minnesotans, the northern wilds have among the darkest skies in the world.

If you do follow predictions for the right conditions at the right time in the right place but can’t get there in time to see the northern lights, you can follow along from home. And you don’t even have to stay up all night to do so.

An AllSky Camera, installed and monitored by the University of Minnesota Duluth’s Marshall W. Alworth Planetarium, is installed on the roof of the Chik Wauk Museum and Nature Center at the end of the Gunflint Trail. It’s within the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, the only Dark Sky Sanctuary in Minnesota. The fish-eye lens records night sky images from dawn to dusk, 365 days a year. Scroll to “Archives” to view previous nights’ images. scse.d.umn.edu/marshall-w-alworth-planetarium/asc

Each August, the planetarium brings a telescope to the Chik Wauk’s annual family-friendly Dark Sky Caravan Sky Parties. Learn more about astrophotography each night. It’s a perfect time to plan a summer getaway on the Gunflint Trail so your night watch can extend into the early morning hours. gunflinthistory.org

Northern Minnesota’s world-class dark sky is celebrated each year at the Dark Sky Festival in Cook County on the North Shore, the second weekend of December. Expect a weekend of presentations, parties, art activities, and a guided night sky walk with telescope-viewing opportunities. visitcookcounty.com/events

Next door in Wisconsin at the very tip of Door Peninsula on the shores of Lake Michigan is Newport State Park, the only other Dark Sky Park in the Midwest. The Newport Wilderness Society shares tips on where and how to best view the night sky in the park. Anecdotally, the northern lights don’t seem to show as often there as on Minnesota’s North Shore. friendsofnewport.org

For photographers and others in search of a near-guarantee in capturing the northern lights, Churchill, Manitoba, is located on Hudson Bay, beneath the aurora oval, with more than 300 nighttime sightings per year. February and March are prime for the photo specialist tour by Frontiers North Adventures, which maximizes every opportunity to wrangle a bucket-list experience into a single frame. frontiersnorth.com

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