Chasing the Northern Lights

In the far North, majestic colored lights often dance and shimmer in the nighttime sky. No two displays are ever the same. Sometimes it’s a meek green glow low in the north, shyly pulsing as if not wanting to be seen. Other times multiple shades of greens, reds, purples, and even blues explode across the sky as rippling curtains of multi-colored light fill the heavens. These are the northern lights, the aurora borealis. To see them, you must voyage into the Arctic. But the excursion is worth the effort.

A display of the aurora borealis happens when charged particles are blasted out from the Sun and ride the solar wind to Earth, where our planet’s magnetic field captures some and deflects the rest. The trapped particles are drawn in toward Earth’s magnetic poles, where they smash into atoms and molecules in Earth’s upper atmosphere in a region known as the auroral oval. Each collision produces a tiny spark of light; millions of collisions light up the night sky.

The colors of the northern lights vary, depending on which atmospheric atoms are struck, and at what height. The most common aurora color is green, the result of collisions between solar particles and oxygen atoms between 60 and 180 miles up. Higher up, this same collision combination yields red aurora. Lower down, solar particles striking nitrogen molecules produce purple fringes often seen at the base of green curtain auroras.

When to Search for the Lights

Although you won’t find this question in our FAQ, we’re often asked: “Why does TravelQuest schedule aurora borealis trips in early spring or early autumn? Why not during the summer?” Summer in the Arctic would be ideal in terms of the weather, but there’s one small problem. It’s too bright to see the aurora. From roughly late April to the middle of August, locations near (and above) the Arctic Circle experience perpetual twilight and even perpetual daylight when, for a time, the Sun never sets. The northern lights can’t compete with sunlight, or even bright twilight.

You might think, therefore, that winter would be a good time to go aurora hunting, since in the north the hours of darkness are long. But on average nights, the lights usually put in an appearance for a couple of hours on either side of local midnight. So the extra hours of winter darkness don’t help.

The best period turns out to be around the spring and autumn equinoxes. Astronomers suspect that’s because Earth’s magnetic field is a right-angles to the incoming solar wind, an alignment that lets more of the charged particles leak into the atmosphere. At TravelQuest, we prefer autumn for our northern lights tours. The days are still warm, the nights are gradually lengthening, and the autumn colors of our destinations add to their scenic beauty.

Two other things to keep in mind. Aurora activity is directly linked to solar activity. When the Sun is active, the northern lights are more likely to come out and dance. Conveniently, the Sun will be active throughout most of the 2020s. And just as twilight can wash out an aurora show, so can moonlight. If you’re planning a northern lights vacation, avoid the full Moon. Instead, choose a block of time around the new Moon when lunar light will be minimal or non-existent.

Where to Catch the Lights

Occasionally a solar storm will result in auroras being seen in the northern United States and central Europe. But such storms are rare. If you want to see the aurora, you have to venture north into their lair — beneath the auroral oval in the Arctic. So where are some of the best places to go on an aurora trip? Two of the best countries for northern lights trips are also TravelQuest’s favorites — Iceland and Norway.

The entire island of Iceland lies beneath the auroral oval. So no matter where we go on our northern lights excursion, we’re always well positioned to see an aurora display — weather permitting, of course. This lets us explore beautiful parts of the country beyond Reykjavik that many visitors never see. We stay in remote hotels and guest houses, far from city lights. So when the northern lights appear, they’re quite literally just outside our rooms.

Norway extends beyond the usual north-south limits of the auroral oval. On our aurora expedition, we sail from Bergen in the south to Kirkenes in the north on a Norwegian coastal vessel. Most of the cruise is spent under the auroral oval as we hug the coast, well away from city lights. (Yes, the ship has lights, but they are often dimmed and can be avoided.) Our cruise is followed by two nights on land in the far north, where we have to look south to see the northern lights!

Alaska is another popular destination for aurora chasers. Fairbanks lies within the ‘average’ auroral oval and is easy to get to (unlike much of northern Alaska). In northern Canada, aurora watching has become a common pastime in Yellowknife, Dawson City, and Churchill. In Europe, much of northern Sweden and Finland is often graced by these dancing lights. (In case you’re wondering, you can also head for southern Chile, Argentina, New Zealand or Australia in search of the aurora australis, the southern lights.)

Patience is Key

When it comes to aurora travel, it’s essential to keep in mind that the appearance of the northern lights is unpredictable. Of course, there are apps and websites that attempt to do just that. Before you leave on your northern lights adventure, go online and search for ‘aurora forecasts’ or ‘predicting aurora.’ Then bookmark some sites and download a few apps. All these programs use the same basic solar data but may interpret it differently, so you may see dissimilar forecasts for the same night.

But even if the northern lights are predicted to appear, ‘when’ is another matter. The aurora is occasionally compared to a temperamental diva — sometimes she arrives early, but more likely she makes you wait. This means you have to be patient. If the aurora forecast looks promising, don’t give up after 10 or 20 minutes of skywatching. You’ll need to settle in for the long haul. If you’re staying in a hotel far from city lights, ask the front desk to call you if the aurora appears. In regions where aurora tourism is big business, most will oblige.

When the aurora borealis does appear, you never know what to expect or for how long. Some displays are over in minutes; others last for an hour or two, or more. Sometimes the northern lights are just that — a pale green glow of light in the north. At other times, the display will change rapidly, brightening and fading, and perhaps expanding into a brilliant, sky-filling, jaw-dropping spectacle. Again, patience is the key. Don’t give up too quickly if all you’re seeing is a faint display. You never know if, or when, or how fast it might change.

Beyond the Chase

It’s important to realize that if you build a vacation around the aurora borealis, you shouldn’t make it the be-all and end-all of the trip. There’s no guarantee that the lights will dance for you. You might do everything right, but sometimes they just don’t show or perhaps you encounter miserable weather. The solution is to design your journey around the sites, sights, and scenery of somewhere you want to visit. That’s what we do at TravelQuest, We create fascinating tours with appealing activities and fascinating landscapes, with the aurora borealis acting as the highlight of a terrific trip.