Nice pictures Fredrik! Whereas they are beautiful and I have never seen them, I am not attracted that much in seeing these in person. I don't mean that I don't want to see auroras, but just that this is not a "must do" on my list. This is just mere plasma physics after all ... ;)

The physicist in me must however react to one of the sentences you wrote. Whereas it is very often said that auroras can only be seen above the Arctic circle, this is not entirely true. Auroras are generated where solar winds enter the magnetosphere of the planet, that is close to Earth's magnetic poles. Therefore, any places around Earth's magnetic poles are natural place to hunt for auroras. Anywhere else solar winds would just be deflected without ever reaching the atmosphere (and thus without generating any aurora).

This means that the region around Earth's south magnetic pole is a great place to see auroras. This region extends all within the Arctic circle, and actually slightly below it too. As a matter of fact, areas just outside the Arctic circle are amongst the preferred ones to see auroras (northern Scotland, northern Ireland, Iceland).

Now, it is not so known that in periods of very intense solar activity, the magnetic field around the planet is modified quite deeply, and auroras can therefore sometimes be seen way further south. By south, I mean it. For instance, there are records of auroras being seen in New Orleans, to mention an example. This is however quite a rare event.

Sorry for messing up with your blog, and I hope you enjoyed me doing it... at least a little ;)