Those who have witnessed the Northern Lights, or aurora borealis, in their full glory will agree that it is an experience that defies description. Beautiful, mystical, mesmerising – no words can do it justice.
The picture on the left is at Kattfjord, near Tromso in Norway, taken in 2002. We had travelled up with the main aim of seeing the aurora borealis, and struck lucky on the first two nights there. Standing on the porch of our cabin, overlooking a tranquil fjord and seeing the green curtains of light dance over our heads, we were speechless. (Incidentally, it is a beautiful part of the world, and even without seeing the aurora we would have loved the place)
The image below was our first full sighting of the aurora borealis – I was working in the Shetland Islands in 2000, and looked outside in hope around midnight. From a faint red glow on the horizon, the whole sky was soon lit up. The show lasted for nearly two hours, and covered almost every colour of the spectrum. The picture is over-exposed and as it comes from my pre-digital days, I learned the hard way how not to photograph the aurora. It still captures a little of the magic of what we saw.
Solar activity goes through 11 year cycles, and we are currently in a lull. So if you want to maximise your chances of seeing the northern lights, plan your trip to Alaska/Canada/Greenland/Norway to coincide with the next maximum, which is due in 2013 and 2014. And bring your two aurora borealis spotting essentials with you: lots of patience, and a healthy dose of good luck.
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