Northern Lights

[ChrisM]

We were lucky enough to see the aurora on five separate occasions whilst in Norway and Sweden for a month. We missed a few good ones too, according to others, though.

The first image was taken from our balcony in Bogen, (near Narvik) Norway, with a Moon not far past full. 3 secs, f/2.8, ISO 800.

The other 3 images were taken from Bjorkliden in Sweden (near Abisko NP) with a temperature of -6 deg C.

The second image was 15 secs, f/2.8, ISO 1250, f=10.5 mm.

The third image was 10 secs, f/2.8, ISO 1250, f=22 mm

The last image was an attempt to capture a fast-moving curtain - but I wasn't quick enough. I had to refocus the lens (on Jupiter), and 3 seconds is still way too long to capture the detail. Next time(?), I plan to crank up the ISO to say 6400 and try a much faster shutter speed (say around 1/25 sec - 1/100 sec).

All images taken with a Nikon D7100.

Cheers, Chris

[mbaddah]

Fantastic images Chris. I'm planning a trip there later in the year myself specifically to see the northern lights.

Did you do any other activities while there and that you can recommend?

[ChrisM]

Thanks Mohammed. We went specifically to see the Northern Lights and timed it to see the eclipse in Svalbard too - see http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?p=1164167#post116416 7 for a few eclipse pics in another thread.

To see the Northern Lights, you would need to time your trip so that there is plenty of night sky. Even though the Arctic regions we visited in Norway were still coming out of Winter into Spring, the Southern sky did not get completely dark in the third week of March, so definitely not much chance of seeing an aurora from about early April until some time in October. Of course, the further South you are, the later the dark skies remain.

Apart from chasing aurorae (and plenty of companies specialise in that - with bus trips departing daily / nightly with durations of 6 - 11 hours), the other main activities on offer are dog sledding, ice fishing, and snow mobiling. The dog sledding is fun - we did a couple of trips, which typically last half a day. We also did a 150 km snow mobile trip which gave us a chance to see places that that are not practically reachable via any other method. And then, there is just lots of very spectacular mountain and fjord scenery. We hired a car and travelled nearly 2,500 km.

Good luck with your planning - there is a lot of info on the internet.

Cheers, Chris

[RickS]

Great pics, Chris!

Cheers,
Rick.

[h0ughy]

awesome shots - one thing i would like to see

[RB]

+1.

RB

:thumbsup:

[Peter Ward]

Looks the weather was very kind to you.
We go hammered with heavy snow and clouds in Tromso...despite which we still managed to get some clearish breaks.

You got some wonderful results. Well done :thumbsup:

[nebulosity.]

Stunning shots Chris! Great work. :thumbsup:

Jo

[Ross G]

Beautiful photos Chris.

What an amazing trip!

Ross.

[ChrisM]

Thanks all for your kind comments.

We were in Tromso too Peter on three separate occasions for a total of five nights, and although there were some breaks in the clouds, it was not ideal. The eclipse chasers seem to head along way inland (even as far as Finland and back on the one night) or sometimes go to some of the adjoining islands.

My research showed that the inland fjords (ie. further away from the gulf stream effect on the western coast) would be better, as would the Abisko NP region in Sweden. Whilst both of these suggestions provided results for us, there is quite a degree of luck if accommodation is pre-booked, not to mention sun activity and duty cycle of the aurora sentry! (my wife and I took turns...)

Cheers, Chris