You should try and seem them once in your life. I have seen both and unless you go to Antarctica in the winter (which is a 6 month trip) the Northern Lights are more spectacular to the naked eye as you can get to much higher latitudes quite easily in the North.
I have seen the lights from Tassie. The difference is your looking at lights that are a long way away on the horizon as your only 42" South. So you need quite a large solar storm, which makes it hard to plan trips as events that large are rare. And then likely you will only see in B&W with your eyes as it will be quite faint. Your cones see in colour but need more light and when its faint it activates your rods (night vision) which only see in B&W. You can still get some spectacular colour photos however using long exposures if you have the right gear. But it is very rare to see a lot of color with naked eye in the lights in Tassie or NZ. In contrast in the North you can get easily to 60-70 deg North in Scandinavia/Iceland/Greenland/Canada/Alaska. Which means you can actually get underneath the Aurora and its bright enough to see in full colour and also can cover the sky above you rather than just being on the horizon. There is no major land mass in the South between 55 and 65 deg south, just a few tiny islands. The southern tip of South America goes the furthermost to the south however its on the wrong side of the magnetic pole (which the aurora centers around as its a magnetic phenomenon) which is displaced from the South pole North towards Australia and NZ. Same reason you never see Aurora shots from the north of Japan as the magnetic North pole is South of the physical North pole in the direction of Canada. Hope that helps.
Ha. No I have not. It is not that it takes 6 months on a boat to get there. It's just that you cant go in summer as the midnight sun is there and it never gets dark enough to see an aurora. Which means you need to get a boat down in autumn. And if you don't leave by the end of autumn the ice is so thick that you have to winter over in Antarctica at one of the stations until the late spring ice melt and the ships can get back in.
You should try and seem them once in your life. I have seen both and unless you go to Antarctica in the winter (which is a 6 month trip) the Northern Lights are more spectacular to the naked eye as you can get to much higher latitudes quite easily in the North.
Hmm, spending 6 months on boats, in the cold is not really my cup of tea. I was thinking a night or two in Tassie or NZ. :)
Good to know the Northern Lights are better. I'll keep that in mind.
I have seen the lights from Tassie. The difference is your looking at lights that are a long way away on the horizon as your only 42" South. So you need quite a large solar storm, which makes it hard to plan trips as events that large are rare. And then likely you will only see in B&W with your eyes as it will be quite faint. Your cones see in colour but need more light and when its faint it activates your rods (night vision) which only see in B&W. You can still get some spectacular colour photos however using long exposures if you have the right gear. But it is very rare to see a lot of color with naked eye in the lights in Tassie or NZ. In contrast in the North you can get easily to 60-70 deg North in Scandinavia/Iceland/Greenland/Canada/Alaska. Which means you can actually get underneath the Aurora and its bright enough to see in full colour and also can cover the sky above you rather than just being on the horizon. There is no major land mass in the South between 55 and 65 deg south, just a few tiny islands. The southern tip of South America goes the furthermost to the south however its on the wrong side of the magnetic pole (which the aurora centers around as its a magnetic phenomenon) which is displaced from the South pole North towards Australia and NZ. Same reason you never see Aurora shots from the north of Japan as the magnetic North pole is South of the physical North pole in the direction of Canada. Hope that helps.
Wow! What a detailed response. Thank you!
This is one of my bucket list items (as I'm sure it is for MANY!!!) so I'm glad to read all these hints!!! :)
did you travel on a boat for 6 months to Antartica???
Ha. No I have not. It is not that it takes 6 months on a boat to get there. It's just that you cant go in summer as the midnight sun is there and it never gets dark enough to see an aurora. Which means you need to get a boat down in autumn. And if you don't leave by the end of autumn the ice is so thick that you have to winter over in Antarctica at one of the stations until the late spring ice melt and the ships can get back in.
Ohhhhhh :)
I see! Hahaha