Aurora alert just after midnight. The phones rang simultaneously in the 194 cabins on the Richard With on this bitterly cold December night in northern Norway. Everyone is instantly wide awake. The crew on the bridge spotted the Northern Lights. Anyone who wants to see her will be woken up. Get out of the bunks! Sleepy passengers slip into ski overalls, put on winter boots, and grab their gear: tripods, cell phones, cameras. doors slam; the first polar light hunters storm on deck.
So quickly put on the red knitted bobble hat and let’s go afterwards! On deck seven, the first passengers are actually already lying on their backs on the floor, pointing their cell phones at the sky, these are the otherwise rather reserved Japanese. “Ouhhhhh,” they exclaim in delight. The French and Spaniards on board are also over the moon, such a natural wonder does not exist in the south. A well-organized German tour group defends their pole position at the railing for the best view.
And there they dance, the northern lights, also known as the aurora borealis, which you can see along the Norwegian mail route. They form into soft squiggles, circles and ribbons, fluttering like curtains in the wind, billowing like waves, changing shape, embracing the cruise ship’s funnel like the arms of a fairy.
They are more perceptible to the naked eye as off-white, no less magical veil clouds. Patience is required here: Only when the rods on the retina have gotten used to the darkness, i.e. after about 15 minutes, can you see a green flickering. However, this also depends on the individual vision.
But the look through the camera, thanks to sensitive lenses and long exposure times, shows everyone this firework of colors. Then the northern lights shimmer grass-green, flicker red, orange or violet: like mythical creatures from a fantasy film, uncanny and attractive at the same time. You can hardly get enough of them. Rainbows, on the other hand, look pretty old.
Newcomers are amazed, the Northern Lights spoiled Hurtigruten crew is just as fascinated. You can’t get enough of it. But where are the most promising targets? Northern Lights researchers from the US University of Fairbanks recommend Norway around Tromsø, Iceland near Reykjavík, the southern tip of Greenland, Yukon and Manitoba in Canada, Fairbanks in Alaska and the north coast of Siberia.
Because auroras are caused by solar storms, they will be even more visible as the sun’s activity increases between 2023 and 2025. They are electrically charged particles that enter the earth’s atmosphere and collide with oxygen and nitrogen. In doing so, they release energy in the form of light.
Of course, anyone who observes them thinks more of the myths that surround them. The Vikings believed that the Northern Lights were reflections off the Valkyries’ shields as they rode to Valhalla. For the Inuit, they are ancestral messages. The Sami ask never to yell at Northern Lights. They could take offense at that. So rather smile.
Northern lights sparkle across Lapland’s sky: near the Finnish city of Rovaniemi, a photographer captured the fascinating images of the natural spectacle.
What: Reuters
