Holiday advice to see the Northern Lights ?

[Astrokev]

Hi All,

Just the germ of an idea at the moment, and am seeking some guidance from others who may have already done something similar.

With solar activity on the increase, I'm considering a possible holiday to see the aurora. Possible destination is Tromso in northern Norway. The lights are something my better half has always wanted to see, and with a special bithday next year, this is one reason for considering 2011.

Some companies offer aurora-watching holidays, but these are no doubt quite pricey. Would I be better off planning my own trip?

Some initial questions:-

When is the best time to go (during 2011)?

What are the chances of actually seeing the aurora, or, how long would I have to stay to [almost] guarentee seeing them?

Is there much else to see / do in this part of the world for a short holiday, apart from the spectacular scenery?

Any tips or experiences from others who have ventured to this part of the world would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Kevin

[lukebl]

Interesting you should mention this, as I was planning a similar trip for the new year to Tromso. Not only to see the Northern Lights, but also to get inside the Arctic. I've been to Iceland, but have never made it to the Arctic Circle.

What attracted me was the fact that flights to Norway and, specifically, the Arctic Circle used to be prohibitively expensive, but Norwegian Airlines now sometimes offer some really good deals. For instance, if you're flexible about dates you can fly to Tromso direct from Gatwick for around £80 each way in January. That has to be the cheapest deal ever to get to the Arctic Circle!

[Capricorn]

No direct help I am afraid just bits I seem to have heard or seen.

If you find a picture of the northern lights you will see they are in a circle around the North Pole. Not sure at what latitude this circle is but a bit of searching should give some idea. That would be the best latitude to aim at.

Another obvious answer is as far north as you can. May seem obvious but may as well make it damn obvious.

For some reason I seem to recall hearing that they are more likely in Spring. Cannot recall where I think I heard this nor why it should be. But I am pretty sure I did and wondered at the time, Why???

Big problem is that they are better with a good outburst from the sun that heads our way. No-one can guarantee that. Have seen them twice, not overly spectacular, and each time when flying back from Canada. Suspect that Churchill in Canada would be a good place also.

If you go to Tromso the Norwegian trains are good so you can get elsewhere. They are not fast however, so don't think of Tromso-Oslo and back in a day.

And if you think it is cold here, these temperatures are normal there at this time of year. Was over in December 5 years ago in Oslo. All roads had ice about 3 inches thick on them.

Be aware not a cheap place, if where you stay supplies breakfast eat lots and just have a snack at lunch, or none if you have eaten enough . Take camera and binoculars and do some wildlife spotting and photography. Days are short, presently, so you don't need to fill in too much time.

[Moonshane]

I'll be watching this thread as I'd love to see the A-B too!

[ollypenrice]

I went up to Tromso on my motorbike in 1981 so I am not quite up to speed but it is a fascinating place. There is a great book by Lucy Jago on Christian Birkland who cracked the physics of the aurorae. Great read.

Olly

[Chris H]

Have you read Neither Here Nor there : Travels in Europe by Bill Bryson?

In the first chapter he talks about going to northern Norway funny, interesting and relevant especially with regard to -

'What are the chances of actually seeing the aurora, or, how long would I have to stay to [almost] guarentee seeing them?'

He visits Hammerfest not Tromso.

[Astrokev]

Have you read Neither Here Nor there : Travels in Europe by Bill Bryson?

In the first chapter he talks about going to northern Norway funny, interesting and relevant especially with regard to -

'What are the chances of actually seeing the aurora, or, how long would I have to stay to [almost] guarentee seeing them?'

He visits Hammerfest not Tromso.

Thanks Kris, I must try and get hold of a copy.

Kev

[Phil Fargaze]

I went to Levi in Lapland in January 2007 which is inside the arctic circle. Lovely place, and I would love to go back there. It was a skiing holiday but I did look out for the Northern Lights. I could only see a slowly changing green colour near to the horizon but if I remember rightly the sun was very inactive during that time.

They did arrange excursions to go see the Northern Lights.

P.S. The temp got down to -27C, so don`t forget your thermals!

[JonH]

Hi Kev,

This might help: http://www.visitnorway.com/en/Articles/Theme/What-to-do/Attractions/Nature/Let-there-be-northern-lights/

I'd love to get to Northern Norway to photograph the Northern Lights one day. I seem to remember a Norwegian recommending March as the most likely time to see them.

Cheers,

Jon

[Ian123]

This is on bbc i-player, wonders of the solar system with brian cox, if you skip to 36 minutes through the programme he travel's to norway to witness the northern light's with some detail of time of year to go.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00rf172/Wonders_of_the_Solar_System_Original_Series_Empire_of_the_Sun/

[george7378]

If I save up my pocket money, I will get a chance to organise my own holiday in the summer of 2012, and I would like nothing more than to do this. I would just take the cheapest flights I could, and stay for long enough to hopefully see a display. I would also be interested in any advice you may have, although this is just a fanciful idea unless it is possible to do it cheap enough. Thanks.

[Watcher]

I went on a flight from Stansted to see them with Aurora Flights. On board we had Paul Money and Pete Lawrence and had an excellent lecture beforehand. They didn't rate our chances of seeing much but we saw a bit, although it wasn't very bright. There was an excellent meteor shower on that night, which made it all worthwhile.

I'd love to see them from the ground too.

[stewpot]

Hi there. I've just joined this forum after a friend posted up one of my pictures and then noticed this thread to which I'd like to add.

I got back yesterday, from a week in Tromso with my wife and thought I could help with some of the questions posed earlier.

1. Tromso is undoubtedly one of the best places in the world to see the aurora. We saw them every night including from our hotel room. Any time in the winter is a good time to go but try to coincide your visit with a new moon. There are a lot of deals around the first week of January.

2. We saved about £1200 by booking direct rather via an agent. Flights were with Norwegian.com and we stayed at the Radisson Blu. Return flights were £366 all in. We flew direct from Gatwick there and via Oslo on the way back . Radisson was £130 per night for a double room but there are cheaper options. The Viking Hotel is good value by Norway standards and there are lots of B&Bs. Half an hour on Google should sort you out.

3. The Aurora are nearly always there but at varying degrees of intensity. The key is to find clear dark skies away from the city lights and there are several ways to do this.

a) - The cheapest option is to take a taxi to a clear area - e.g. by the lake or on the water front away from the main town. There is also cable car that takes you up to a very good viewing platform on a mountainside overlooking the city. The tourist office will happily provide a free map with the nearest and best places to walk/bus/taxi to. Expect to pay £25-£50pp for these options

There are several organised trips for large parties. Some take you to one spot with cabins/food/toilets etc provided, others will drive around the local viewing spots. Trips last 3-5 hours. Prices are around £100pp

c) A full guide. If you can afford it, this is the best option. The guides understand that for many people this is a once in a lifetime trip and are not adverse to crossing the borders with Sweden and Finland to reach clear skies. They also tend to be very good photographers and will help with camera set up and even lend you a lens or tripod. This is the most expensive option, expect to pay around £150-£200 pp. FWIW we used

Kjetil Skogli. Google him (the link is too long) This is the guy who sorted out Joanna Lumley and Brian Cox. He was superb and I cannot recommend him highly enough.

d) A good alternative is to book a boat cruise. This is around £130pp but includes a decent dinner so pretty good value. We did this on our last night and had some good seeing. Pictures were a little trickier though due to the boat rocking.

4. Take a decent camera. Borrow or hire one if you have too. A little digital camera with manual settings will do, but only just and you'll wish you had a decent one when the lights show. We met so many people in Tromso who regret not doing this. We used an 18-35mm lens (it came with the camera) a 3.5 aperture setting and 20-30 secs exposure. I have no idea what any of that means but the camera could do it and the guide set it up for us. Also take a tripod - essential for good pictures when using long exposure times.

The bad news.

Tromso/Norway is painfully expensive. Exchange rate is 9 NOK/£1.00. Expect to pay £8-9.00 for a pint of beer and £40 for a bottle of wine. Even a pizza for two and a couple of beers will set you back £50.00. That goes for shops too. Clothes, food, drink etc are all around double the price of the UK - but then you don't go there to go shopping do you?

Even if you don't see the lights. Tromso is a great place to go. It really is on the edge of a great unspoilt wilderness. Whilst we were there we went dog sledding (under the Northern Lights), ski-ing, snow-mobiling and even ice fishing.

Thoroughly recommended to anyone.

Hope that helps. Here's a couple of pics to whet your appetite

[Kp6]

Welcome Stewpot what fantastic pictures you have there. Yes last week there was a measurable amount of activity courtesy of a couple of coronal hole high speed streams.

Hi All,

When is the best time to go (during 2011)?

What are the chances of actually seeing the aurora, or, how long would I have to stay to [almost] guarentee seeing them?

Thanks

Kevin

As you might gather from my username my core interest in the night sky is the aurora although in the last year I started delving into the world of astronomy.

Whilst predicting solar flares and CME's is nearly impossible to do, it is possible to predict coronal hole high speed streams with a more reliable amount of accuracy. Areas like Tromso benefit the most from coronal hole effects as they generally yield less power than a CME and therefore any effects tend to linger over the poles.

To see the northern lights over a location such as Tromso would only require a planetery k index of KP2 or higher, looking here at the coronal hole history you can see the geoeffective date of streams and it's effects on earth.

Just like sunspots, coronal holes rotate around the sun in a cycle lasting 27 or 28 days sometimes growing or shrinking in size during the rotation, CH433 has been a recognised coronal hole since August 2010, every time it has rotated to an earth directed position we have had a peak KP of at least 3. I expect CH433 to be in a geoeffective position on the 9th-12th Feburary. The same rule can be applied to any trans equitorial coronal hole in predicting its next geo-effective date. So it is possible to predict the northern lights 28 or 55 days in advance but only if you are located near the poles.

Coming a little closer to home... Predicting the northern lights over Scotland (where I live) is tricky and relies on frequently checking the noaa site for updates on solar activity. To see auroral activity here requires a planetery K index of 5 or higher, and the Bz component of the Interplanetery magnetic field tilting south quite strongly. Most coronal hole high speed streams aren't powerful enough for a KP5+ type storm though occasionally one pops up and catches you out when you least expect it!!! The effects from CH431 (07/01/2011) is a prime example, I caught a glimpse of the display but I did move rather quick when I noticed the magnetometer dip!

Hope this is of help.