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Chasing the Northern Lights
 "No
pencil can draw it, no colours can paint it
and no words can describe it in all its magnificence."
Truer words were never spoken when describing the beauty of the
northern lights. In past centuries, when these mysterious lights
made a rare appearance over the skies of central Europe, the people
cowered in fear, hid their faces from the sky and cried out that
war, plague and death had surely been foretold. Today, thousands
trek to the northern regions of the country, or fly thousands of miles
to the north, for just a glimpse of nature’s most magnificent aerial
display.
A glorious display
The northern lights are infinitely changeable. Sometimes, they
stretch from one horizon to another, in an unending wave front
sweeping across the sky. At other times, they dot the skies with
ever-changing coronas. They can shimmer as a single, ghostly shade
of pale, or glow in vibrant, unearthly colours. Red, blue, green,
yellow and every shade in between, the colours seem to writhe across
the sky. Sometimes, the lights seem untouchably distant; other
times, they seem almost to reach down and caress your face.
The northern lights have been around since the birth of the world.
They painted the skies above the heads of the dinosaurs and they
inspired beautiful tales among the early humans who saw them. There
are hundreds of legends about the lights, told among the people of
the north who see them. Among the Norwegians, the lights were the souls of old maids, dancing and waving in the sky. Among the Inuit
of Greenland and Northern Canada, the lights was the realm of the
dead, and when the lights changed rapidly, it meant that dead
friends were trying to contact their living relatives. Whatever the
belief however, a common element in all the legends was the strong
sense of awe towards the lights and a touch of fear beneath the awe.
The science behind the mystery
Scientifically, these aerial displays are known as aurora borealis.
They have a southern counterpart, the aurora australis, which can be
seen in areas near to Antarctica, but most people are more familiar
with the northern lights.
For thousands of years, wise men and
scientists struggled to find an explanation for the aurora. Only
recently has it become clear that the lights are intricately linked
to the sun and the atmosphere of the planet. The sun produces
constant clouds of charged particles that sweep away in great waves
from the fiery star. These clouds are known as solar winds and brush
past the earth at its northern and southernmost extremes, most
importantly within a constantly moving oval centred on the earth’s
magnetic poles known as the auroral oval. In this region, when the
interactions are just right, some of these particles drift down,
colliding with gases in the atmosphere and causing the gases to
glow. It is this constantly changing collision in the atmosphere
that we see as the fascinating northern lights.
Unlike much natural phenomenon, the aurora borealis never lost its
mystery and appeal once an explanation for it had been established.
Despite knowing its origins, the aurora is simply too ethereal, too
mysteriously beautiful to be so carelessly dismissed. Indeed,
knowing the science behind the northern lights often only serves to
increase the awe felt upon viewing the display.
The
best time to see the Northern Lights
Chasing the aurora borealis is chancy business
because it is so unpredictable. Scientists can foretell with a fair
degree of accuracy whether there will be a display in the next few
days and how spectacular it will likely be, but beyond that, the
predictions get steadily more inaccurate.
The absolutely best place
to see the aurora borealis is from the space station orbiting the
earth, for the astronauts are able to see the northern lights as
they appear from above. Most amazingly, they can also observe the
auroras of other planets!
For those who aren’t fortunate enough to
be astronauts however, the best way to view the northern lights is
to head for the northern regions of Scandinavia or Canada, perhaps
even Siberia or Greenland. The reason for this northern trek is
because the aurora borealis is far more intense and frequent in the
higher latitudes: in Northern Norway for example, vibrant displays
can be seen on almost every clear, dark night, while in Northern
Scotland, they can only be seen about once a month and around the
Mediterranean, a weak display takes place only about once a decade,
perhaps even once a century.
To figure out the best time to see the display, keep an eye on the sun.
The aurora borealis reflects the sun's activity: it closely follows the
11-year
cycle of sunspot activity and the greater the sunspot, the more
vibrant the display. There is also plenty of invaluable information
on the Internet, detailing where, when and how strong the aurora borealis
is likely to be.
An aurora borealis display can actually take
place at any moment, even during the day. Unfortunately, it is
impossible to see the aurora during the day because the same sun
that produces the northern lights also produces enough sunlight to overwhelm
it. Darkness and clear skies are required, which can be somewhat tricky
in the land of the midnight sun — during the summer, the sun really never sets
but sits just above the horizon.
The best time to go
north is from September to late March, when the sunlight is much
weaker. For some unknown reason, the aurora borealis is usually at
its most spectacular during the early spring and late autumn.
Seeing the northern lights is often a matter of choosing the
likeliest location and waiting. And waiting. And waiting some more.
The patient watcher is often rewarded with a beautiful display.
Patience is no substitute for sheer blind luck however, as witnessed
by the people of Helsinki, the capital city in the southernmost part
of Finland, who on the nights of 6th and 7th April 2000 were treated
to the most magnificent aurora borealis display in living memory.
Thousands stood in the streets and gazed up at the sky in the small
hours of the morning, as vivid curtains of multi-coloured light
shimmered overheard. Pekka Parviaien, a leading photographer of
celestial displays, used up 19 rolls of film that night and remarked
that in 29 years of photography, he had never seen anything as
awe-inspiring as the northern lights of that cold spring night.
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