<p>Yes. The Aurora form in a ring, roughly centred on the Magnetic pole. The pole does wander slowly, but it has been located in the Canadian Arctic for some time.</p>

<p>As the pole is on the American side of the Arctic ocean, aurora are seen at lower latitudes in America than in Russia, nevertheless, when a powerful solar storm occurs, aurora can be seen at surprisingly low latitudes, even into the subtropics, as Wayfaring stranger notes in her comment. </p>

<p>Aurora in Moscow is a notable, but not exceptional occurrence, as this news report indicates <a href="http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article/507096.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article/507096.html</a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-09-14T16:44:23.220Z
2015-09-14T16:44:23.220Z
James K
<p>Back in 2002, me and my friends observed a green glow in the sky at night in the form of giant slow moving spurts of flame, looking more dense near the horizon and more blurred at height. It was surrounding the area, not just on one side, as I see on most of the imagery available. It was bright enough to see for several people sitting around a bonfire.</p>

<p>Is it possible for the natural phenomena, 'Aurora Borealis' take place as far south as 56° N, 37° E; in a Moscow suburb, Russia?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-09-14T12:33:16.417Z
I've seen it several times at 59 degrees north, so I think it is possible 3 degrees to the south of that too.
LocalFluff
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-09-14T12:33:23.753Z
Easily. Northern lights have been seen as far south as Cuba: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/news/next-solarstorm.html The sun is a little quite just now: http://www.spaceweather.com/ but it's been having large spots and putting out powerful, aurora inducing, coronal mass ejections (CME's) for several years now.
Wayfaring Stranger
<observational-astronomy>
Is Polar Lights observation possible at the latitude of 56° N?
George Polevoy
# Is Polar Lights observation possible at the latitude of 56° N?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-09-14)

Back in 2002, me and my friends observed a green glow in the sky at night in the form of giant slow moving spurts of flame, looking more dense near the horizon and more blurred at height. It was surrounding the area, not just on one side, as I see on most of the imagery available. It was bright enough to see for several people sitting around a bonfire.

Is it possible for the natural phenomena, 'Aurora Borealis' take place as far south as 56° N, 37° E; in a Moscow suburb, Russia?

**Tags:** observational-astronomy

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: I've seen it several times at 59 degrees north, so I think it is possible 3 degrees to the south of that too.  
> **username_2**: Easily. Northern lights have been seen as far south as Cuba: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/news/next-solarstorm.html The sun is a little quite just now: http://www.spaceweather.com/ but it's been having large spots and putting out powerful, aurora inducing, coronal mass ejections (CME's) for several years now.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2015-09-14. Score: 2 | Accepted answer

Yes. The Aurora form in a ring, roughly centred on the Magnetic pole. The pole does wander slowly, but it has been located in the Canadian Arctic for some time.

As the pole is on the American side of the Arctic ocean, aurora are seen at lower latitudes in America than in Russia, nevertheless, when a powerful solar storm occurs, aurora can be seen at surprisingly low latitudes, even into the subtropics, as username_2 username_2 notes in her comment.

Aurora in Moscow is a notable, but not exceptional occurrence, as this news report indicates <http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article/507096.html>


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