One of the non-animal things that I would like to see in nature someday is the Aurora Borealis. I'm curious if anyone here on Zoochat has seen it and what that experience was like.
Has anybody here seen the Aurora Borealis?
- Thread starter DavidBrown
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zooboy28
Well-Known Member
I went to Kiruna in northern Sweden (inside the Arctic Circle), with seeing this phenomenon as one of my key aims (especially given wildlife viewing was pretty limited - just reindeer and moose). We visited at a time of year (mid-December) that is apparently the best to see the lights, but sadly it was cloudy the whole week and we saw nothing
. Will have to try again some time. Occasionally the Aurora Australis can be seen in southern New Zealand, they often show footage of it on the news when it is impressive, but I have never seen this either.
I have. Usually faint Green to the north. In April 2007, I was driving on a back road north of town. The road went up and over a small hill in a wooded area. About 45 degrees above the horizon I noticed a faint reddish smudge just past the windshield. I switched off the headlights and let out a spontaneous gasp/cry when the sky exploded into Red. I immediately turned the lights back on and regained control of the Heavens. I pull safely over, prepared myself, and turned the lights back off. Awe feels a lot like Fear and I felt a very immediate connection with the first of us. Several times since then from the Arctic to the Kenai, but never quite like that again.
samstown
Member
wow i haven't seen it but it's on my bucket list. I was tempted to go when i saw a good deal on wego flights but i couldn't manage to take a long enough leave to do so. Apparently, 2012 was the year to see the Northern Lights at their best.
Nasa predicts the brightest northern lights display in 50 years | Mail Online
but I figured that since this us one of nature's finest display of beauty, it would be just as lovely on any given year.
Nasa predicts the brightest northern lights display in 50 years | Mail Online
but I figured that since this us one of nature's finest display of beauty, it would be just as lovely on any given year.
We see them here every few years. Usually they are fairly faint but I remember one about 20 years ago where the sky to the south was bright pink. A friend who was going home from our place came in and said he must be going crazy as the sky was pink. Lucky he did or we would have missed it.
Just got back from northern Finland last week, saw them 4 nights out of 7, 2 were cloudy, 1 we were too tired to go out! The best night we'd gone to bed but saw them on the webcam in Sweden and decided if they're good in Sweden they should be here so got up and went out - SOOO glad we did.
The best night they filled the sky for over an hour. Stupidly didn't take a tripod so photos not as good as they could have been. Nearly froze my hand to the metal bridge trying to fix the camera
Still they were bound to be better than all the people using flash got!
The best night they filled the sky for over an hour. Stupidly didn't take a tripod so photos not as good as they could have been. Nearly froze my hand to the metal bridge trying to fix the camera
Still they were bound to be better than all the people using flash got!Attachments
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It would be just as lovely IF you see it, I've been to the Arctic in winter 6 times and only this year saw a really good display, previously it was either cloudy or they just weren't playing! It's a joke when you see trips "to see the Northern Lights"
Whilst we were there they had had them 14 consecutive nights in Sweden at Abisko, on night 15 it was cloudy, imagine if your special trip up there was night 15!