Worth Going Out

Northern lights in Reykjavík in January

Iceland. Figures for January 2027, calculated by us. Times are local.

Go

Yes: long, dark nights. In mid-January the sky is dark enough for the aurora from about 18:31 to 08:42, 14 hours a night.

Darkness through the month

1 January: 14.5 hours of darkness.
15 January: 14 hours.
End of January: 12.8 hours. The nights are getting shorter through the month.

“Dark” here means the Sun is more than 12° below the horizon. Faint aurora needs a darker sky; a strong display can show earlier in the evening.

The Moon in January 2027

New Moon: 7 January 2027. The week around it has the darkest skies.
Full Moon: 22 January 2027. A bright Moon makes the aurora look fainter, though it is still there.

What to expect

The aurora appears only on active nights, and only where it is clear. Plan several nights and check the forecast each day: how to read it.
City lights wash out faint aurora. Þingvellir National Park, about 40 km away, or any dark stretch of coast is a far better place to wait.

Green curtains of the northern lights over a dark snowy landscape — The northern lights over Þingvellir National Park, Iceland. Photo: Carl Young, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Get a note when it is worth going out

A short email before an eclipse, a strong meteor shower or a dark week worth planning for. No more than a few a month.

Reykjavík: the whole year. All northern lights destinations.

Sources

Darkness, sunrise and Moon phases: our calculation, Astronomy Engine 2.1.19 (MIT licence). How we worked it out.
NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center, Tips on viewing the aurora.