See our cookie policy or continue to use the site if you're happy with this. Northern lights near Tromso, Norway. Home The Northern Lights. The Northern Lights The northern lights are also known as the aurora borealis, meaning light of dawn. What are the Northern Lights? When is the best time of year to see the northern lights? Spring and autumn generally provide more stable weather conditions and milder temperatures plus there is greater aurora activity around the equinoxes.
November through to February offer the darkest skies and longer evenings for maximum sky-gazing. The strongest lights tend to appear between 9pm and 2am , though the best sightings often occur between 11pm and midnight. Why is aurora activity stronger around the equinoxes? View holidays ». Where is the best place to see the northern lights? Blog: Photographing the northern lights Read our 5-step guide to capturing the northern lights on camera Read blog ».
Auroral Activity and Forecasts Aurora forecasts are given for a 3-day period and are constantly updated. The Aurora Sky Station in Abisko, Sweden captures images every 5 minutes from their webcam Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for alerts when strong aurora are predicted. The science behind the aurora The sun is essentially a huge ball of self-luminous plasma which rotates every 27 days or so and surrounding the sun is a million-degree-hot atmosphere called corona. Frequently asked questions about the northern lights Why are the northern lights different colours?
The most frequent colour seen is green , caused by oxygen typically around km high Red is more rare and harder to see, also caused by oxygen and higher altitudes between km. But make sure to stay as far away from light pollution as feasible.
There are also plenty of options for good aurora viewing in North America. While far-eastern Canada tends to be cloudy, the shore of the Hudson Bay, the northern Canadian towns of Yellowknife or Whitehouse, or the west coast of Alaska are usually good bets. The city of Fairbanks itself can be a great choice for seeing northern lights without needing to go too far in the wilderness. Alaska Tours' aurora tours. Northern Tales Yukon aurora tours.
Northern Lights Tours. A traveler could also take a train across the auroral zone to the town of Churchill in Manitoba on the western shore of Hudson Bay — an area famous for its polar bear population.
Churchill Arctic Adventures tours. The northern lights result when charged particles streaming from the sun collide with molecules high up in Earth's atmosphere , exciting these molecules and causing them to glow.
The different colors of the northern lights come from different molecules: Oxygen emits yellow, green and red light; while nitrogen is responsible for blue and purplish-red hues. Earth's magnetic-field lines channel these solar particles toward the planet's north and south magnetic poles, which explains why auroras — the aurora borealis and its southern counterpart, the aurora australis — are high-latitude phenomena.
Indeed, the aurora borealis is visible most nights, weather permitting, within a band several hundred miles wide that's centered at about 66 degrees north — about the same latitude as the Arctic Circle. This "standard" aurora is generated by the solar wind — the particles streaming constantly from the sun. But solar storms known as coronal mass ejections CME can ramp up the northern lights considerably and make them visible over much wider areas.
However, if you're planning an aurora-viewing trip weeks or months in advance, you can't count on any help from a solar storm and should therefore head to a destination somewhere near the northern ring. Related: The sun's wrath: Worst solar storms in history. The southern auroral ring lies above Antarctica and is very difficult for skywatchers, or anyone else, to get to. How about three nights cruising the Icelandic coastline and three days exploring on land?
Greenland has never featured heavily on the tourist map but, as travellers become more adventurous, it is a destination where visitor numbers are starting to grow. It is a remote, wild and sparsely populated place where living can be tough but there are certain benefits to living here.
Not least of those benefits is the Aurora Borealis which regularly blazes in the night sky and when you see them from such an off-the-beaten-track destination, it can be an overwhelming experience. Greenland is home to the second largest ice cap in the world and it is quite something to behold.
Canada seems like a long way to travel in search of the Northern Lights but when it is somewhere like the Yukon , the journey is more than worthwhile. This is a vast and still wilderness punctuated by the occasional town and village. Otherwise, there is very little except for untamed wilderness where bears and caribou roam freely below jagged snow-covered peaks.
Their toils were immense but they must have taken some considerable solace from the spectacular Auroral displays which regularly fill the night sky here in Northern Canada.
Our holidays to the Yukon are designed to enhance your chances of seeing the Northern Lights whilst highlighting some of the remarkable landscapes and history of what is a remarkable province.
You do not have any shortlisted holidays. Click the star icon on the search or holiday pages to shortlist a holiday. Activities Abroad is the UK's leading family activity holiday company. From Father Christmas, the Northern Lights and dog sledding in winter to white water rafting, canyoning and kayaking in summer we offer a compelling range of holidays to suit active families.
Artisan Travel provides dream fulfilling holidays which marry expertise and local knowledge to provide unforgettable year-round experiences. We take your privacy seriously. Your personal information is safe with us and will never be passed on to third parties. If you opt into emails, you may unsubscribe at any time. To read our privacy policy click here. We use cookies to help us provide a better service for you. Brimming with geothermal pools, volcano tours and quality culture, you could be forgiven for forgetting about the Northern Lights altogether.
For an uninterrupted viewing experience, journey to Hofdabrekka, near Vik in southern Iceland, and enjoy the show in mesmerising isolation. Direct flights to Reykjavik are competitively priced and the capital is very walkable, making it great for a quick getaway. Pair that with a colourful blanket of solar wind and magnetic interference, and the Northern Lights in Canada might just be the best natural experience imaginable. You can see the show as early as late-August, running through the winter months until early spring.
Situated north of the Arctic Circle, Rovaniemi is the epitome of snow-laden wilderness. By day, go husky dog sledding, ice fishing or embark on a snowmobile safari, building up to the epic evening — Northern Lights in Lapland. With a similarly Scandinavian September — April optimum viewing time, you can plan a trip to Rovaniemi at your convenience.
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