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G1Peak 21 September 1997 at 21:00 UTC

Northern Lights on 21 September 1997 (Kp 5): Where They Were Visible

Kp reached 5. At that level the edge of the auroral oval reaches about 56.5° magnetic latitude, so the aurora could be seen low on the horizon down to roughly 52.0°. Activity stayed at storm level (Kp 5 or more) for 6 hours.

03579 G1 G3 Sat 20 Sept 18:00 UTC · Kp 0.33 Sat 20 Sept 21:00 UTC · Kp 1.00 Sun 21 Sept 00:00 UTC · Kp 1.33 Sun 21 Sept 03:00 UTC · Kp 1.33 Sun 21 Sept 06:00 UTC · Kp 2.33 Sun 21 Sept 09:00 UTC · Kp 2.33 Sun 21 Sept 12:00 UTC · Kp 0.67 Sun 21 Sept 15:00 UTC · Kp 2.33 Sun 21 Sept 18:00 UTC · Kp 4.67 Sun 21 Sept 21:00 UTC · Kp 5.00 Mon 22 Sept 00:00 UTC · Kp 4.33 Mon 22 Sept 03:00 UTC · Kp 4.00 Mon 22 Sept 06:00 UTC · Kp 1.33 Mon 22 Sept 09:00 UTC · Kp 0.67 Mon 22 Sept 12:00 UTC · Kp 1.33 Mon 22 Sept 15:00 UTC · Kp 0.33 Mon 22 Sept 18:00 UTC · Kp 0.67 Mon 22 Sept 21:00 UTC · Kp 0.33 Sun 21 SeptMon 22 Sept
Kp 0–3 Kp 4 Kp 5–6 (G1–G2) Kp 7+ (G3+) Times in UTC; faded bars are forecasts.

Three-hourly Kp from GFZ, one day either side of the storm.

Where the aurora could be seen

930 towns on our list had enough activity while it was dark there. Cloud cover is not included.

CountryPlacesExamplesFurthest from the pole
Canada 164 Montreal, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Quebec City Gander
Sweden 145 Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmö, Uppsala Oxie
United States 135 Minneapolis, Saint Paul, Fargo, Green Bay Manitowoc
Finland 123 Helsinki, Espoon keskus, Tampere urban area, Vantaa Raseborg
United Kingdom 103 Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Dundee Ashington
Norway 77 Oslo, Bergen, Trondheim, Stavanger Mandal
Denmark 75 Copenhagen, Aarhus, Aalborg, Frederiksberg Esbjerg
Latvia 39 Riga, Daugavpils, Liepāja, Jelgava Daugavpils
Estonia 21 Tallinn, Tartu, Narva, Pärnu Võru
Iceland 18 Reykjavík, Kópavogur, Hafnarfjörður, Reykjanesbær Vík í Mýrdal
Lithuania 18 Klaipeda City Municipality, Šiauliai, Panevėžys, Mažeikiai Utena
Greenland 6 Nuuk, Sisimiut, Ilulissat, Qaqortoq Qaqortoq
Faroe Islands 4 Tórshavn, Klaksvík, Fuglafjørður, Miðvágur Tórshavn
Ireland 1 Letterkenny Letterkenny
Svalbard & Jan Mayen 1 Longyearbyen Longyearbyen
Based on each place's Kp threshold (terrain included) and the Sun's position during each 3-hour Kp block.

Only in photos

1,896 more towns could have caught a faint red or green glow low on the horizon with a phone or camera.

Whether the aurora was actually seen also depended on the weather. Use this as a guide to where it was possible.

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