Have you ever seen the dazzling, dancing lights of the aurora in the night sky? The closer you are to the North or South Pole, the greater your chances are of seeing this amazing spectacle. In the Northern Hemisphere, it is called an aurora borealis or the northern lights. In the Southern Hemisphere, it is called an aurora australis or the southern lights.
Aurora at sea: the best way to see the Northern Lights
Six reasons why a voyage sailing the Norwegian coast with us is the best way to see the amazing aurora borealis.
During our 130 years of sailing Norway’s coast, we’ve spotted every type of aurora you can imagine. We’ve watched ribbons weave across the Arctic sky in shades of pink and red. We’ve seen rare coronas form directly over fjords lined with frozen waterfalls. We’ve even observed an aurora take the form of a dragon.
And we’ve learned beyond a doubt that the best way to increase your chances of seeing a spectacular display of the aurora borealis is to take a sea voyage beneath the Auroral Oval. So, over the decades, we’ve adapted our ships into floating observatories that are perfect for aurora chasers.
Here are six reasons why a voyage with us is your best chance of seeing an unforgettable Northern Lights display.
MS Richard With sailing under the Northern Lights
Photo: Stian Klo
Pole position
Of the 34 ports that we visit on our famous Coastal Express route, 22 sit within the Arctic Circle. On our 12-day Roundtrip Voyage, you spend no fewer than six nights in the Auroral Zone. This increases your chances both of seeing the Northern Lights multiple times, and of seeing a spectacular display.
The Auroral Oval marks the range of auroral activity around the magnetic North Pole. Its footprint varies depending on solar activity, but Northern Norway is reliably within it. When you see the Northern Lights from within the Auroral Oval, they can fill the sky, from horizon to horizon.
MS Richard With sailing under the Northern Lights
Photo: Stian Klo
Photo: Agurtxane Concellon
Routine sightings
We have more than 130 years of experience seeing the aurora along the Norwegian coast, every year. Their spectacular displays are our normal. We sail every week of the year, including during the Northern Lights seasons.
Your best chance of seeing this spectacular light show in Europe is in Northern Norway between October and March, when the nights are long and dark – forming the ideal backdrop for the colourful Northern Lights. The longer you spend with us in this region at this time of year, the greater your chances of seeing a sensational display.
Photo: Agurtxane Concellon
Photo: Tommy Simonsen
What Causes the Aurora?
Auroras are a natural interaction between the Sun and Earth’s atmosphere. Our Sun generates a strong solar wind, which carries about one million tons of extremely hot plasma (electrons, protons, and other particles) away from the Sun every second. Earth’s magnetosphere acts like a shield that protects us from most of this constant solar wind, deflecting it around Earth.
During a solar storm, such as a solar flare or coronal mass ejection, a large amount of plasma hurls through space at high speeds as part of the solar wind. When this extra solar energy collides with Earth’s magnetosphere, some of the electrically charged particles move down strong magnetic field lines at the North and South Poles and become trapped in Earth’s atmosphere. These particles bounce from the North Pole to the South Pole and back again, transferring energy to molecules in Earth’s atmosphere as they go. The colorful, glowing lights of the aurora result when these energized molecules release their extra energy.
Why Are Auroras Different Colors?
Auroras occur within one of Earth’s upper atmosphere layers, the thermosphere. Solar particles trapped here interact with different types of gas molecules, mostly nitrogen and oxygen, resulting in unique, colored displays of light. Oxygen gives off green and red light, while nitrogen glows blue and reddish-purple. Green-colored auroras are most frequent, resulting from interactions with oxygen molecules at lower altitudes (between 100-300 km or 62-180 mi), while the less commonly occurring red auroras form from interactions with higher altitude (above 300 km or 180 mi) oxygen molecules.
Do Auroras Affect Earth?
Auroras have delighted and inspired curiosity in humans throughout time. The only significant impact to Earth associated with auroras is a possible disruption of radio communications as charged particles from the Sun create a disturbance in Earth’s magnetic field. When the magnetic disturbance is particularly strong, auroras can sometimes be seen farther from the poles, in mid-latitude locations.
Earth isn’t the only planet that experiences auroras. Any planet with an atmosphere and a magnetic field is likely to have auroras. Spectacular auroras have been observed on Saturn and Jupiter.
