The best place to see the Northern Lights
Close to the magnetic North Pole, and with long, dark nights, when it comes to viewing the Aurora Borealis, discover why northern Norway is a brilliant base
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Andrew Feinberg
White House Correspondent
An absent friend: in northern Norway in winter, that defines the sun. Close to the North Pole, the hub of our solar system can be concealed from view for weeks on end.
Yet even when tantalisingly out of sight, it transmits one of nature’s greatest spectacles: billowing clouds of light that electrify an icy landscape.
Electricity is at the heart of it all. Charged particles known as ions emitted by the sun are coaxed to Earth and funnelled into heavenly highways by our planet's magnetic field. The thrilling phosphorescence arises when, aggregated in their billions, these ions collide with earth’s upper atmosphere.
Electric spectrum
On a cold, clear winter's night, the heavens suddenly fill with colour: the Aurora Borealis. An electric spectrum from turquoise to crimson pulses in time with the solar breeze.
While Nature's neon wasn’t quite invented by the Norwegians, one of Norway’s greatest scientists was the man to explain the phenomenon that had enchanted (or terrified) the people of the north for millennia.
Thank heavens for Kristian Birkeland, the man who theorised about the sun’s role in the spectacle, despatching rivers of free electrons to speed at almost a million miles an hour towards the earth.
Only 50 years ago — a century after his birth — did an early US satellite confirm his theory that the Northern Lights comprised a gift from the sun. And in the decade since then, the opportunities for travellers to enjoy them have expanded remarkably.
Wide window of opportunity
Nature can be disobligingly fickle, so to maximise the chance of witnessing the Northern Lights you need to work the probabilities. The window of opportunity widens the closer you are to the magnetic North Pole, the longer and darker the night, and the less the intrusion of artificial light — all of which points to northern Norway.
In terms of ease of access from across the UK, and the diversity of activities to accompany a winter trip, Norway is on top of the world.
The Northern Lights can take you by surprise, and there’s every chance you could be treated to a brief but impressive performance of this phenomenon wherever your location in northern Norway. However, plenty of alluring locations are available — Andenes at the northern tip of Vesterålen is particularly recommended, because of its remarkable connection to the cosmos.
For more inspiration click here - and to book your break to Norway, visit visitnorway.com