The northern lights, the aurora borealis, are a beautiful phenomenon in which waves of light form in the skies, and have captivated people for thousands of years. Nowadays people travel from all over the world just to see them.
Then how plan a trip to see the northern lights?
Where can you see the Northern Lights?
First it is necessary to take note of the places where these wonderful lights can be seen. That always involves the north. These lights occur when charged particles from the sun collide with Earth's atmosphere.. Then those lights form a boreal oval above the North Pole, so then, this is where we should go. Actually, the northern lights appear in a certain area around the pole.
Northern lights or aurora borealis are more likely to be seen when the skies are clear and clear, free from the pollution of the cities and the light of the moon. That's why, Canada, Alaska and Northern European countries are the best destinations. Around here, at certain times of the year the nights are longer and they are places that are in ideal latitudes for these magical apparitions to take place.
So, let's write down the places where you can see the northern lights. In alaska a very popular site is Fairbanks. Yes it is very cold but you can take advantage and stay in a hot spring. So, with hot water up to your chin, the show will be better enjoyed. Fairbanks is directly under a band with a lot of auroral activity, so between August and the end of April the city experiences these lights that dance between greens, purples and yellows. This fantastic phenomenon occurs more frequently between 11 pm and 2 am.
Near, in Canada, there is Yukon. from august to april the northern lights streak the skies of the Yukon Territory. Of course, it will depend on the clouds that there are and the light pollution. In the meantime, you can head to the Northern Lights Science and Space Center at Watson Lake to learn all about these wonderful lights. Another site in Canada is Churchill. Here they float on polar bears, in Manitoba. 300 nights a year. Marvelous.
In NorwayOn the other side of the Atlantic, there are also many great places to see the Northern Lights. The best of all, the one who gets all the applause, is Svalbard, a small group of islands in the Arctic that lie between mainland Norway and the North Pole.
Here you experience the polar night, that semi-permanent darkness that occurs between mid-November and February and gives visitors twice the chance to see the lights. Besides, It is the only uninhabited place in the world where you can see the northern lights during the day. To enjoy all this, the city offers safaris on snow sleds or snowmobiles. Also in Norway is Tromso, the largest Norwegian city in the north of the country. It is located in the middle of that auroral oval, and thus offers a wide variety of tours to choose from.
These tours are offered from the end of September through all of March. Even you can see the northern lights from the gondola of a cableway, the one on Mount Storsteinen, with great views of the lights over the city. in the neighbor Finland You can also see the northern lights, in the Lapland Finland with its wonderful pines. This is where that nice hotel is with cabins/glass igloo, very romantic (Kakslauttanen Arctic Resort).
Fortunately, it is not the only hotel with this type of transparent cabins, there are others, but the accommodation offer also includes domes on the banks of rivers and lakes, villas by the sea and much more. The outstanding thing about many of these accommodations is that they have glass windows or ceilings. Can you imagine it? My God! Considering that Finland has about 200 nights a year when these lights appear… Well, I would say that it is the best destination to choose.
the aurora borela also seen in Greenland. It is a land with very clear skies and good visibility. A stay of between three and four nights during the northern lights season, from September to early April offers good opportunities to contemplate it. There is the Hotel Arctic, in Ilulissat Icefjord, but you can also go to an old American military base in Kangerlussuaq. It has about 300 clear nights a year and the best conditions for viewing the northern lights. AND in Iceland it is also seen, to the south. The same in Sweden.
In Scotland you can also see the Northern Lights. Did you know? You can actually see it all over the UK, in the fall and winter, but it's definitely better to head north. the Highlands or the Shetland Islands. Here the lights of the aurora are known as the Mirie Dancers. And in order not to be on the lookout all day, it is best to sign up for AuroraWatch UK and that's it.
I have never seen them up close but contemplating them is one of my biggest dreams. Galileo Galilei is the one who baptized them with the name of aurora borealis in the year 1619, after the name of the Roman goddess Aurora and the Roman god of the north wind, Boreas. It seems that the oldest record of the aurora borealis are some paintings in a cave, in France, with more than 30 thousand years of antiquity. But legends, there are many.
What is the formation process of the aurora borealis? At any time the sun ejects highly charged particles from its corona or from the upper atmosphere, creating what is called the solar wind. When this wind hits the Earth's ionosphere, the aurora is born. The particles are scattered towards the poles by the action of our magnetic field, a field that interacts with the atmosphere, depositing energy, and ultimately causing the atmosphere to fluoresce. The colors are due to the chemical composition of our atmosphere.
In the northern hemisphere this light phenomenon is called aurora borealis or northern lights, but in the southern hemisphere it is called aurora australis. NASA is always investigating how these curious and beautiful lights work. In fact, in 2018 it launched the Parker Solar Probe that today orbits the sun and will one day get close enough to "touch" its corona. Meanwhile, collect information that could be revealing about these lights that have amazed us for thousands of years.
So, in short, what is What to consider when planning a trip to see the Northern Lights is: destination, time of year, hotel and tour. And a good app that indicates probabilities too.