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Arctic Tales

dick_dangerous

By dick_dangerous
in Observing - Reports

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dick_dangerous

dick_dangerous

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Hi All,

Been a bit quiet of late having been off on holiday to lovely Iceland. I was about to say sunny, but sadly that would be far from the truth.

Iceland is a pretty amazing place - during the day we went to all the sights: Gullfoss, Strokkur, Þingvellir, the Snaefellsnes peninsula, Skogafoss, Reykjavík etc. We even made it to remote Strandir to see the famous "Necropants" (Best not to ask...). Bird life was profuse, mostly Whooper Swans, Eider ducks, Ptarmigan and, memorably, a Gyrfalcon at Vík i Myrdal.

All this is by-the-by though because we're interested in astronomy here! The weather was, of course, pretty awful. Iceland is famed for its horizontal rain after all, but where we staying close to Akranes on the west coast the rain got funnelled down the fjord and skies were unremittingly slate-grey. After six nights of leaden sky I gave up hope of spotting the Aurora, something I had been keen to do. Then a brainwave occured - it might have been peeing with rain at Akranes, but further north on Snaefellsnes, the skies were moderately clear. Coupled with an "Active" forecast for the Aurora, the Thursday looked like our best shot at seeing it. So we headed north and had a lovely day in Snaefellnes looking at rocks, ending up in Stykkishólmur, one of Iceland's few truly pretty towns. We ate an excellent dinner (The one and only restaurant meal we could afford to have the whole trip!) and I watched with trepidation as the sun went down and the sky gradually darkened.

When we left the restaurant it was spitting with rain, but I decided not to be down-hearted. My wife and our friend were given strict instructions to watch for stars and gaps in the clouds and we set off south towards Akranes. At about 10pm we pulled up at the start of the mountain pass back over Snaefellsnes. The western horizon was still glowing but in the east, through a gap in the clouds, we spotted a faint silver glow in patches, but so soon after sunset it wasn't easy to see. We stayed put but then realised the clouds were closing in again so we continued over the pass. Again the rain came in driving sheets and it looked like we'd had our fill of aurora for the week but as we came back on to the main route south the rain cleared and stars were spotted.

After a quick check in someone's drive we found a picnic spot we'd noticed earlier on an exposed bluff. We parked up, switched off the lights and got out. Totally mind-blowing is how I'd describe it. I'd seen it in 1989 from the New Forest during an intense solar maximum and I'd always envisioned it as a faint glow over the northern horizon with bars of light coming out of it. At 65 degrees north it filled the sky with an immense ark of silvery light. As we watched we saw little pieces of light drift downwards, expand and contract, appearing and disappearing seemingly at random. Slivers of light snaked through the sky and glowing patches swirled like clouds. We spent a good half an hour watching and photographing it before it was time to head home.

Without a tripod I had to simply place my SLR on the roof of the car and hold it as steady as possible. Here are two of the photos I managed:

9806322805_88fd364a05_m.jpg9806356216_6b593da69e_m.jpg

I cannot recommend enough going to see it because it truly is the most awe-inspiring sight in the natural world. Even Mrs Dangerous was spell-bound. Although Iceland's weather is highly unpredictable, if you don't see the aurora at least you've got some amazing geology and wildlife to look at! Don't bother with over-priced aurora tours either. Do the research, hire a vehicle and get out to where the gaps in the clouds are! There's maybe another month and a half before the snow really comes...

Now looking forward to taking the 'scope down to the New Forest next weekend. I have my fingers crossed for a repeat of 1989...

DD

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dick_dangerous

dick_dangerous

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Thanks for the comments everyone.

I think what surprised me, more than anything else, was the speed at which it moved. I'd seen all the photos and videos but really wasn't expecting it to shimmer and change quite so quickly. I'm halfway tempted to book another trip up there next year to see it again, except the first trip cleaned us out!

DD

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