[vundercind]

Like, visible visible? I’m a lot farther north than that and if I hadn’t known there was something going on, I’d not have noticed it. It kinda shows up on camera, but naked eye viewing is not even worth a walk to the nearest window. Nothing to see, really.

[idlewords]

Having your eyes dark-adapted (even a bit) makes a big difference. Here (Maine) I couldn't see anything out the window, or much of anything stepping outside, but after two minutes could see large-scale aurora across the entire sky, despite being near a bunch of streetlights and passing cars.

[Scoundreller]

I’m also guessing light pollution was less of a thing in 1859