Preparation is everything in your search for Northern Lights.
Whether you have never seen the Aurora or are a seasoned expert, one thing is for sure: Northern Lights will never get off your bucket list! Once you experience their magic you will want to spend more nights outside in search of this spectacular ever changing natural phenomenon.
See the Aurora Scout App as the Swiss army knife for Northern Lights hunting. It tries to bundle as much relevant information as possible while keeping the interface compact and dark enough to use under extreme conditions. The last thing you want to do is take your gloves off at -40° in order to scroll back and forth through large amounts of data or lose your night vision because your screen lights up like a Christmas tree.
The app is intended for anyone interested in catching a good display and serves beginners, experienced enthusiasts as well as professional guides.
A limited featureset is available in the Basic (free) version. As soon as you want to dive deeper into the art of Northern Lights forecasting you can subscribe to the Premium version which will expand your possibilities.
As privacy is important the app does not contain any 3rd party tracking or advertisements and is only monetized through the Premium version.
Features
| Appearance | Basic | Premium |
|---|---|---|
| Easy to understand colors (red=bad, green=good) | ✔ | ✔ |
| Dark interface (preserving much of your night vision) | ✔ | ✔ |
| Everything in local time! No more brain breaking conversions | ✔ | ✔ |
| Science & Terminology explained | ✔ | ✔ |
| No advertisements or hidden monitization | ✔ | ✔ |
| Solar Wind | Basic | Premium |
|---|---|---|
| Current Charts (accuracy) | 5 min. | 1 min. |
| Current Numbers (accuracy) | rounded | full |
| Numbers History (period) | ~45 min. | ~45 min. |
| Numbers History (descending: period) | ✘ | ~2 h. |
| Data reload – automatic (frequency) | 5 min. | 2 min. |
| Data reload – manual (wait) | 2 min. | 30 sec. |
| Clear indication of arrival time (ETA) | ✔ | ✔ |
| Standard data Hemispheric Energy, Speed, Bz, Density | ✔ | ✔ |
| Extended data IMF angle & strength, Bx, By, Bt, Pressure and Flux | ✘ | ✔ |
| Sky darkness estimation (location based) | ✔ | ✔ |
| ETA in minutes | ✘ | ✔ |
| Solar Wind travel time | ✘ | ✔ |
| Active satellite for real-time data | ✘ | ✔ |
| Timelines | Basic | Premium |
|---|---|---|
| 3-day Kp forecast | ✔ | ✔ |
| Sunrise & Sunset (location based) | ✔ | ✔ |
| Twilight transitions (location based) | ✘ | ✔ |
| Moonrise & Moonset (location based) | ✔ | ✔ |
| Moon visibility & illumination % (location based) | ✔ | ✔ |
| Moon angle and direction (location based) | ✘ | ✔ |
| Images | Basic | Premium |
|---|---|---|
| Oval, Coronal Holes, Sunspots, ENLILs Single image relative to current Solar Wind | ✔ | ✔ |
| Zoom in | ✔ | ✔ |
| Scroll multiple images (past, present, future) | ✘ | ✔ |
| Indication of arrival time (when scrolling) | ✘ | ✔ |
| Play images sequentially | ✘ | ✔ |
| Other | Basic | Premium |
|---|---|---|
| Manual location selection Good for privacy and planning | ✔ | ✔ |
| GPS based location selection | ✔ | ✔ |
| Links to weather services (for current location) | ✔ | ✔ |