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I'm currently on a cruise in Norway and we've been apparently lucky enough to see the Northern Lights. But to my naked eye the Lights were nothing more than a faint cloud and only with a 15 second exposure on a camera could I get something approximating the photos I previously saw online:

enter image description here

Now I'm wondering if the Lights are actually worth seeing during their strongest period in the winter. Can the naked eye capture the beautiful green tones visible in the photos?

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    You can definitely see more than this or than a faint cloud. Movement and clearly demarcated shapes, curtains or ribbons across the whole sky for example (I have seen those). But it still won't look like the photographs. Hopefully someone who lives in the right area and has seen them regularly will be able to provide more details.
    – Relaxed
    Commented Sep 28, 2017 at 23:10
  • Note that there is no reason for the lights to be stronger later in the year, now is the time activity is the strongest. The only reason to travel in the depth of winter is that you have more darkness to actually see them. On the other hand, there is a multi-year cycle and 2018 is not a particularly good time, the next maximum should be around 2025.
    – Relaxed
    Commented Sep 28, 2017 at 23:12
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    The intensity, colors and action of the Northern Lights varies, I have seen very minimal displays and very intense displays. There are no guarantees. But yes an intense display is well worth seeing.
    – user13044
    Commented Sep 29, 2017 at 1:29
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    If you see an intense display, you will certainly not confuse it for a cloud. It may pass from horizon to horizon straight overhead, flashing green and perhaps other colours. The very faintest and quietest forms may look like a cloud, except that you will see the stars shining through them.
    – gerrit
    Commented Sep 29, 2017 at 10:19

2 Answers 2

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In The Northern Lights: Photos vs. Reality:

Aside from being able to make the sky appear green when the naked eye can only see white, long exposure photos mean a lot more movement is captured in one shot than you would see otherwise.

It’s just important to know that the images your eye can see are very different to what your camera can capture.

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  • That article goes a long way to explaining why footage of the aurora is always sped-up / timelapse. It's like some kind of immutable law of cinematography...
    – AakashM
    Commented Sep 29, 2017 at 7:58
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I've found an interesting video that shows what the Northern Lights look like to the naked eye in real time. It appears that it can indeed be quite impressive, although not as impressive as in the sped up footage:

enter image description here

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    Yes, this is how I remember it (like slow waving ribbons) while driving north towards the baltic sea around 1991. Must have been some special atmospheric condition to be seen so far south.
    – Mark Johnson
    Commented Sep 27, 2020 at 7:44
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    Thanks for posting this. The problem I've always had with the speed-up footage is that you have no idea how much it has been sped up. @MarkJohnson the strength of the northern lights at this latitude is not due to atmospheric conditions but to the fact that the north geomagnetic pole is in northern Canada. The northern lights are therefore always visible at lower latitudes in the western hemisphere.
    – phoog
    Commented Sep 27, 2020 at 15:59
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    @phoog Thus more rare in Europe (eastern hemisphere) at lower latitudes. It only lasted about 20 minute, as I recall, in the early afternoon.
    – Mark Johnson
    Commented Sep 27, 2020 at 16:05
  • @MarkJohnson Relaxed has posted an answer linking to a clear map, though it should be noted that the north geomagnetic pole is moving northwestward more rapidly than it has in centuries, so the map may be a little bit inaccurate by now. Still, it illustrates the basic principle very well: in Eurasia, the lights are generally visible only in the northernmost areas of Scandinavia and Siberia, but in North America they may be seen across most of Canada and Alaska.
    – phoog
    Commented Sep 27, 2020 at 16:12

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