Christmas with the Northern Lights
The moon appears brighter in the dark winters. It reflects off the water and the snow. It is beautiful in the night sky but it also chases away the Northern Lights. The best time to see Aurora Borealis is around the time of the New Moon, when it is much darker. On 27th December, we will have a New Moon so it looks like we will have a Christmas with the Northern Lights.
Posted 16.12.2008 by
Tags: Arctic Circle, Aurora Borealis, christmas, Moon, Mountain, North, Northern Lights, Norway, Pictures, Polar Night, sea, Season, snow, winter
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Wow – that’s amazing! One would almost think that photo was “Photoshopped” to be that bright!
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from L-Jay:
No Photoshop (expect for the watermark) and a sharpening! But the exposure on the camera was taken down because the moon was so bright and you couldn’t see anything else! Even though the moon was bright it was still hard for the camera to focus on its own. The aperture was very small too to get a deep focus and reduce ‘moon-flare’.
We are still beginning to learn about photography – but you learn by doing!
This photograph is splendid! I have the impression to travel in front of my screen!
Not much time to come on your web site in this moment, but I have a big concern with my computer because of a virus.
Love that photograph L-Jay!
Hi,
Pretty cool information you ve got here. I am planning a visit to Alta in the first week of Feb, 2009 to see the Aurora. Would you recommend that time and is it usually easier to see the northern lights in the 1st week of Feb clearly? Can you please point me out to some accurate weather information for Alta (and also Moon activity) and also Northern lights activity on the internet ?? I am having trouble looking for the weather, Moon, Aurora activity all at the same time.
Cheers
Sriram
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From Moose:
I’m actually doing some research for a future post on the science of Aurora.
It is actually very hard to predict when and where it will appear as it is dependent on solar activity and the Earth’s magnetic field. From what I’ve read the solar activity runs on an 11 year cycle and right now we are in a low period – so Aurora has been very scarce this winter.
However, it seems that December and January are the worst winter months to see the Aurora, so you should have a better shot in February.
Accurate weather forecasts are normally only given one week at a time – the Norwegian Meteorological Institute can give you info about Alta and pretty much every other place in Norway – they also have info in English.
There are some services that offer Aurora-forecasts, but these are not always accurate and usually only give a day-by-day forecast. This site has info in English. I would recommend you to check frequently close to your trip.
But on a personal note – Alta can get some spectacular Aurora displays. I have actually seen Aurora so bright it lit up the ground! It is not without reason that Alta had the world’s first Northern Lights Observatory, built back in the 1800′s.