Nothing beats the sight of an aurora borealis if we talk about decorating the skies with luminous colors, not even the most expensive and the most carefully designed fireworks. The visual aesthetics is just the tip of the iceberg of the entire northern lights experience. Witnesses have claimed an intense feeling of wonder and awe, even developed some sort of religious awakening and insight as they gaze to the skies dominated by this miracle of nature. A short summary of how an aurora borealis is formed may help us understand its mystery: the sun is mainly responsible for the creation of the aurora borealis and it all starts when it throws out massive solar particles to the outer space after a powerful solar storm. These solar particles, popularly known as solar wind, reach the Earth's atmosphere through the North and South Poles' magnetic attraction. The gases in the atmosphere would react to the electrical charge that is being produced by the solar particles' collision with the atmosphere. The varying colors of the northern lights are the results of such a reaction. The process is similar to how a neon-tube gives off colors.

Yellowknife is considered to be the prime location where you can see the northern lights in Canada. Another perfect location for aurora sight-seeing is the Canadian Shield, a mountain range in Canada that holds the record for being the oldest. The mountain range has some viewing locations and its high elevation and naturally dark surrounding help emphasize the luminous colors of the aurora borealis.

The most intense appearance of the northern lights is like an ethereal drape of colors that flickers in patterns that are amazingly charming. Canada gets good aurora borealis' sightings fairly often but it is next to impossible to predict the quality of appearance as this largely depends on the sun's storm activity. On average, Canada is getting one aurora sighting every week.

The spectacular and most intense northern lights can be seen in rare occasions when the sun experiences turmoil and gives off dense solar particles to the outer space. This factor is beyond our control. The best thing that we can do to increase the chances of getting a high quality aurora is to carefully plan our vacation ahead and check out the calendar when the moon is less active. Late June to early July are the best months of the year in Canada to see the aurora, between twelve midnight to one the following day.