WHEN IS THE BEST TIME TO VIEW? According to SpaceWeather.com, statistically speaking, March is the most geomagnetically active month of the year; October is a close second. Between 10:00pm to 2:00am seems to be the time frame most conducive to aurora activity. Scout your location in daylight. Displays can vary in duration, hours or minutes. Be prepared.

AURORA BOREALIS FORECASTS & INFO :
Tromsø Geophysical Observatory
Aurora Forecast
Weather Forecast
Space Weather
Moonrise /Sunrise Times

TIPS TO AID CAPTURE: ISO settings from 400 to 1600 can deliver excellent results using DSLR's. Shoot in RAW. Remove filter to avoid rings caused by interference fringes. Suitable lens : Canon Zoom Super Wide AngleEF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM Lens set on manual and pre-focussed on a distant object. Trial Exposure depending on brightness of aurora : Canon EF 10-22mm f/3.5 25seconds ISO 800. Correct Exposure is critical: Even though a RAW image offers scope for exposure compensation, accurate exposure is imperative, especially when shooting high ISO. High ISO Noise Reduction can be ignored as this takes place in post processing. Chrominance Noise (or color): is also a part of high-ISO images. It’s the pastel-colored, speckled noise visible in some areas of the shot. This noise has far less impact on fine details of your subjects, so it can often be reduced or removed without appearing to blur or soften your images. Luminance Noise:is the gray- or black-colored noise or “grain” - you want to be very careful about simply removing this noise altogether — it’s very easy to blur-out the noise, and end up with a smooth picture that’s totally lacking in subject detail. Set your lens f/stop at its largest opening. Remember your histogram to fine tune exposure requirements.A snowy landscape that reflects the light is a big help on a completely dark night. It can provide the necessary light for a foreground landscape that improves the image. Moonlight illuminates the foreground landscape, but can make the display feel less intense.White balance can be used to change the colors of the Aurora.

Update : For full frame cameras such as the Canon 6d it is quite possible to use ISO 12800 for correctly exposed images without noise becoming an issue. The shorter the exposure the better the structure of the aurora captured especially at times of very high activity. I have commonly used ISO 5000 plus 1s exposure time and F2.8 on such occasions. I would also recommend the Samyang 14mm lens which is excellent for aurora photography.

CHECKLIST:
Shoot in RAW
Auto White Balance
ISO 400 , 800 or 1600
F/3.5 25s ISO 800 starting point
Histogram enabled
Turn on Long Exposure Noise Reduction
Set LCD Brightness to low
Remove the filter from your lens
Pre focus your lens on distant object maybe tape in this position.
Test exposure, consult histogram
Have 2 spare batteries and use fast durable cards eg sandisk extreme
Use a tall but sturdy tripod
Use a cable release (not a wireless one)
Check the aurora forecasts
Scout a location in daylight, check for street lights, safety issues etc
Don’t breath on your viewfinder
Use your lens hood to protect against frost/condensation on your lens
In between shooting, point your camera lens down to prevent frost gathering on the glass.
Have a cleaning cloth at hand to clean frost from lens if necessary