Northern Lights June 4-5
June 4, 2025 9:00 pm - June 5, 2025 11:00 pm
Oh heavens! The night skies are filled with celestial phenomena – stars, constellations, the Moon, the Milky Way, and the northern lights (aka aurora borealis). Want to see it all? The North Shore has very little light pollution, especially away from the shoreline communities, making for ideal night sky viewing.
The vast night skies are another free North Shore attraction, open every night, easy to access.
Check below for the current northern lights forecast. Since these are storms, the forecast can change. Check back weekly as we update often.
Seeing the northern lights is breathtaking, inspiring, awesome. Shafts of luminescent green light dance across the sky. Fans of pink glow for hours. Vibrant, pulsating white wands illuminate the night heavens. This is the aurora borealis.
And to be perfectly frank, what looks like the white glow of light pollution is also the northern lights. Less showy, but frequent because northern lights are a geomagnetic storm that occurs close to the earth’s poles. When the storm is big and the winds are right the storm can be seen here.
The bigger the storm, the bigger show. Aurora forecasts are just that, predictions. If there is a likely chance we post a notice (see northern lights forecast below). As with other storms, sometimes they pass quickly and sometimes they linger all night.
Look to the north sky, this generally means Lake Superior is over your right shoulder.
Get away from lights, a mere half mile inland does the trick.
The higher in elevation you are, the better your chances of seeing the lights, and getting an unobstructed view.
If you see a smear of white over the forest, you may be seeing the aurora. Watch and see if it moves.
I wish I could give you photography tips, but that eludes me. Which is lucky because then I watch and appreciate.
A more consistent evening display is the Milky Way. This massive spiraling star formation has a dense nucleus and thin surround disc. When we see the hazy band of light bending across the night sky, we are looking at the Milky Way.
Moonless nights are best for night sky viewing – we’ve listed those times below.
The Milky Way is brightest in the summer months and can be seen in the east/southeast sky. Binoculars will let you zoom in on the shimmering stars.
June 4, 2025 9:00 pm - June 5, 2025 11:00 pm
August 9, 2025 12:00 am - August 9, 2025 11:59 pm
July 10, 2025 12:00 am - July 10, 2025 11:59 pm
Full moons have many names derived from various cultures reflecting what was happening in the natural world. The July full moon is known as the Buck Moon as it is when new antlers of buck deer grow. It is also known as the Salmon Moon, Raspberry Moon, Thunder Moon, and Hay Moon.
June 11, 2025 12:00 am - June 11, 2025 11:59 pm
June full moon is most commonly known as the strawberry moon for the delivious wild and commercial berries that fruit this month in northern climates. For this reason, it is sometimes known as the Berries Ripen Moon.
June 4, 2025 9:00 pm - June 5, 2025 11:00 pm
June 4, 2025 9:00 pm - June 5, 2025 11:00 pm
June 25, 2025 9:00 pm - June 25, 2025 11:45 pm
New moon nights – night when the moon is absent from the sky – make for great stargazing. Here’s a great way to start – look due north after the sun has set and find the Big Dipper constellation [see photo] with its telltale 3-star handle and 4-star dipper. In the summer, the dipper is at ‘9-o’clock’ and hangs dipper down.
July 24, 2025 9:00 pm - July 24, 2025 11:45 pm
Best Stargazing July. New moon nights – night when the moon is absent from the sky – make for great stargazing. Here’s a great way to start – look due north after the sun has set and find the Big Dipper constellation [see photo] with its telltale 3-star handle and 4-star dipper. In the summer, the dipper is at ‘9-o’clock’ and hangs dipper down.
July 17, 2025 11:00 pm - August 24, 2025 5:00 am
The Perseid meteor shower is one of the most prolific showers of the year, producing rich, bright streaks. The Perseids are active from mid-July until late August and will peak Aug. 12. Best viewing is after midnight. Viewers can start observing around 11 p.m. local time when the rates of shooting start increasing and can watch the sky until dawn. The Perseid meteor shower radiant is in the constellation Perseus. This strong shower is produced by Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle, an icy body that takes 133 Earth years to orbit once around the sun. If there's a clear sky, the Perseids will have a meteor rate of about 100 visible "shooting stars" per hour.
August 23, 2025 9:00 pm - August 23, 2025 11:45 pm
New moon nights – night when the moon is absent from the sky – make for great stargazing. Here’s a great way to start – look due north after the sun has set and find the Big Dipper constellation [see photo] with its telltale 3-star handle and 4-star dipper. In the summer, the dipper is at ‘9-o’clock’ and hangs dipper down.
June 20, 2025 12:00 am - June 21, 2025 11:59 pm
Summer solstice is a wonderful day to be outside all day long because it is the longest day of the year. Which means the shortest night of the year, too. The summer solstice, which occurs on June 20 or 21, is the astronmical start of summer and happens when one of the Earth's poles is tilted towards the sun at its most extreme angle.June 20 or 21
