The northern Lights (AURORA BOREALIS)

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The Snork Maiden

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Hi,

Made up my mind that I wish to visit/view the Northern lights this year.

Does anyone know of any places that the lights are visible that are cheap to visit !

Has anyone been to see the lights and are they as good as they appear in photos etc!

Thanks,

Snorkie
 
I saw the lights in Northern Canada a few years ago, it was late september. I didnt see much colour just a shimmering curtain effect in the Northern Sky. I visited Lapland a few years ago in June but I didnt see them at all. I assume it must be dark for you to see them.

Incidently I saw them in Ireland in the early 90's but would not have recognised them it I had not seen them in Canada a few years earlier. I remember older people remarking that they saw them in Ireland in 1939 just before the out break of the Hitler war. It seems they are a portend of war.

Hope this helps,
ajapale

Edited to add image
 
northern lights

For a few days last year they were visible from East Cork.
Not as spectacular as what can be seen from further North, but weird all the same.
 
Northern Lights

Last year they were also visible from North County Dublin. Even with all the light pollution from street lighting, they were quite clearly visible from my back garden in Swords.
 
Re: Northern Lights

Nah - that was the searchlight from the Garda helicopter.
 
Re: Northern Lights

one 2l bottle of bulmers

one bottle of jd, 6 cans of red bull, look into the toilet when you are praying and see the wonder's of life!
 
Northern Lights

Thesnorkmaiden, fly SAS from Dublin to Copenhagen to Tromso.

Speaking of Tromso, anyone fancy a game of golf under the midnight sun?
 
Re: Northern Lights

anyone fancy a game of golf under the midnight sun

Yes, but leave your plus-fours behind - I got eaten alive by mozzies above the artic circle.

Does any one know if there are Southern Lights?

ajapale
 
re: northern lights

southern lights (Aurora Australis) are sometimes visible from the southern tip of New Zealand. I've heard Stewart Island (off the southern tip of NZ) is especially good for viewing them.
 
.

Seen Northern Lights in Cavan last year. Same night it was reported on news in Dublin. Not pollution but sun bursts caused it. Went to top of local mountain in dead darkness.

Really freaky and well worth seeing. Not sure if I would find it particularly fullfilling to pay to got on hols to see. But saying that, I was thrilled to watch the sun going down over beaches in Thailand, Clearwater, Key West over the years and it only occurred to me last year that the Irish sunsets over a lake forecasting a frosty morning are much more brillant than I have ever seen abroad. A lot colder in the bikini though.
 
Northern Lights

NLight, yes I saw them too from Wicklow but naturally they were less spectacular than in more northern latitudes.

Snork, one thing, don't forget the weather. I've been to Narvik a few times and only saw the midnight sun on two occasions- the other times were overcast so I guess it could be the same with the Northern Lights.

Here is a link to a web cam in Tromso - so you can check out the midnight sun in summer and the Norther Lights in winter. - But it doesn't come close to actually being therte so go for it!!!

weather.cs.uit.no/
 
Tromso.

Went to Tromso in November a couple of years ago but didn't get to see the northern lights which was a bit of a disappointment as it was the only thing I went to Tromso for. Trip was quite long and involved a number of interconnects.

Tromso itself is a lovely little town with very old wooden houses\shops and relatively few modern buildings.
Hotel I stayed in was on the harbour and had a wonderful view of the fishing boats and across the sound to the other side which was connected via a beautiful suspension bridge.
Everything was covered in pure white snow.
Museums and observatories to visit.
4 hours of sunlight when I visited.
Tromso airport has an Irish pub but when I stopped in while waiting for my flight out the wouldn't serve alcohol because it was too early in the day.
 
I was on a flight from San Francisco to London last November and could see the northern lights while passing over greenland. I've also seen them from Ireland, if your really keen to see them you could subscribe to [broken link removed] which would give alerts of when to expect to see an aurora. It's possible to predict auroras as they usually happen several hours after a major solar flare.
 
This Norwegan site is interesting.
[broken link removed]

You can get Northern Lights ScreenSavers which look very impressive.

ajapale
 
thanks

thanks all for your replies.

I have checked out Tromso on the web and think that perhaps this is where we will go......only thing now is to work out the best time to be in with a good chance of catching a glimpse.

Thanks again.

Snorkie
 
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