Northern lights

[Panamax]

LimaDelta said:

Have you considered a night flight?

That's how I got to see them accidentally, and spectacularly, a few years back. On a transatlantic flight it was as if the aircraft was flying through shimmering green curtains. The effect is more "glow" than "light". I believe the charged particles (or whatever) follow lines of the earth's magnetic flux.

[chrismarr]

Airlie Monument by Christopher Marr, on Flickr

Loch Lomond aurora by Christopher Marr, on Flickr

While it is possible in Scotland its a PITA - I've watched a few good shows but I've also spent many many more nights freezing my tits off and not seeing anything.

[take-good-care-of-the-forest-dewey]

They're stunning pics.

[RB Will]

Unfortunately it is a bit pot luck wherever you are. Had one trip to Iceland and got nothing and a trip to northern Finland and got about 2 mins worth of a half assed show. Both trips at ideal times of the year for it. You need to luck into the right weather too, you can have a great show going on but if it is cloudy you are boned.

I follow a photographer on Instagram called Paul Zikka and he seems to be a blummin magnet for them. Go and live with him for a week lol.
He lives in Banff Canada and sees them quite regularly, usually starting a bit earlier in the year than the typical Scandinavian season

[maxdb]

https://www.facebook.com/groups/457652560955639 is good for reports and pictures.

Anything at the top of Scotland with a good view to the North would be the best bet. There's loads of factors to consider though such as the time of year, the weather and the strength of any solar storms.

The only thing with the northern lights is that they are not always visible by eye and you don't really see any colours with the naked eye unless it comes in really strong. When I saw some at John O Groats it looked like a high cloud of moonlight.

Here's a couple of pics I managed to take on my DSLR though

Edited by maxdb on Monday 27th June 21:32

[bongtom]

chrismarr said:

Airlie Monument by Christopher Marr, on Flickr

Loch Lomond aurora by Christopher Marr, on Flickr

While it is possible in Scotland its a PITA - I've watched a few good shows but I've also spent many many more nights freezing my tits off and not seeing anything.

So no filters or enhancements?

If so that's bloody impressive.

[SturdyHSV]

maxdb said:

The only thing with the northern lights is that they are not always visible by eye and you don't really see any colours with the naked eye unless it comes in really strong.

I think this is worth making clear, all of the magical light show pictures you see are from long exposures on cameras, as a mere human as far as I understand you won't see anything of that magnitude and brilliance.

I saw them in Iceland in October 2014, as part of the stay had arranged a tour on the first night, they take a coach out to a few suitably dark places presumably based on similar tools to what's been posted above. If you don't see them, you are free to go on any of the next trips until you do (within about a year I think it was) we went again 2 nights later and saw them.

You could see some greenish coloured lines across the sky and even with my shonky phone managed to get some vaguely discernible squiggles, but sadly the magical dancing light show illuminating the entire sky like a multi-coloured sunset is to be enjoyed by cameras only.

[Johnnytheboy]

I can't believe this thread has got this far without



From



You can get back to taking the internet seriously, chaps.

[nute]

I’ve seen them in Iceland and the very north of Finland, maybe 3-4 times in total from perhaps 15 to 20 visits. I do love Finland but the times of year they are most likely to occur it’s generally cloudy so it’s very much pot luck. I would also say that using a camera which is correctly set up gives you some very spectacular pictures which don’t really represent what you see with the naked eye.

The further north you go the higher up in the sky they are likely to be ( in general) so if you are lucky enough to see then in Scotland they might be quite low to the horizon whereas in N Scandinavia they could be right overhead.

Best of luck with trying to arrange it, I hope you are successful and your friend gets their wish.

[sjabrown]

It's certainly possible to see them quite frequently in Scotland with a bit of effort but the really good shows only really happen a couple of times each winter. I'm not all that far north (Fort William) but in the past 6 years have twice seen spectacular shows with the lights dancing purples and greens across the sky.

[Whats on Second]

bongtom said:

chrismarr said:

Airlie Monument by Christopher Marr, on Flickr

Loch Lomond aurora by Christopher Marr, on Flickr

While it is possible in Scotland its a PITA - I've watched a few good shows but I've also spent many many more nights freezing my tits off and not seeing anything.

So no filters or enhancements?

If so that's bloody impressive.

great images but I'd like to see the pics before the enhancements.

i've heard folk say they.ve seen it as south as skye and oban,

[cologne2792]

I've been to Northern Scotland many times but never seen them as I'm usually there in June.

I have though seen them twice from Devon, once in the eighties and again in the nineties - awesome!

[Skyedriver]

Alpacaman said:

I'm on Skye and occasionally see them, a lot of the images you see online are ones that can only be seen using a camera. My neighbour has produced an app for tracking when they are likely.

https://aurora-alerts.uk/

The best view I ever had was 150 miles north of the arctic circle in November but again a lot is down to luck. Good luck with it.

We lived on Skye for a number of years and never saw them but we were looking south from our place with a big hill to the north. A friend who lived there recently used to photograph them regularly, she lived Breakish though. Again we now live north of Oban and never see them but a friend regularly gets some great photos. Seems the camera picks them up far more readily than the naked eye.