Northern Lights facts: 9 things you probably didn't know about the Aurora Borealis
Interesting facts about the amazing natural phenomenon
One of the greatest natural light shows on earth, the Northern Lights, or Aurora Borealis, is top of many travellers' bucket lists, but how much do you really know about the phenomenon?
Perhaps you're wondering why they're called the Northern Lights or whether they only happen north of the equator - well, we've got the answers right here.
An incredible activity to experience during a winter snow holiday, witnessing the Northern Lights on a cold weather adventure is like nothing else. To help you learn more about the Northern Lights and inspire you to see them for yourself (try this Northern Lights cruise to Norway), we've brought you some of the most interesting Northern Lights facts below.
And with late September to early April being the best time to see e the Northern Lights, when the sky in polar regions is dark enough to create the perfect viewing conditions, now is a great time to get clued up on the Aurora Borealis before planning a trip later in the year or in early 2024.
Whether you want to know the best places to see the Northern Lights, (Norway, Sweden, Iceland and Canada offer excellent viewing) or whether the Aurora Borealis really looks as it appears in the photos, you'll want to keep scrolling.
With the help of Tom Kerss, a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and Expeditions Astronomer for Hurtigruten, which specialises in Northern Lights cruises (like this one), here are nine things you probably didn’t know about the Aurora Borealis.
And once you've read these interesting Northern Lights facts, you'll want to check out Country Living's exclusive Northern Lights trip to Norway with Hurtigruten, where you'll have 14 nights to hunt for the dancing lights.
The Northern Lights never switch off
The Northern Lights are produced by an active relationship between the Earth and the Sun that varies in intensity but never drops to zero. This means, they are always shining even if they are too faint to be visible.
March and September are when the auroras are slightly enhanced
Due to a strange phenomenon known as the equinoctial effect, the lights are slightly enhanced around the equinoxes in March and September. It's all due to the angle between the Earth's magnetic poles and the solar wind.
Northern Lights is actually the older term for Aurora Borealis
Most people think Aurora Borealis is the older term for the Northern Lights, but the opposite is true. The name 'Northern Lights' dates back at least 800 years, while the name 'Aurora Borealis' was coined relatively recently by Galileo in 1616, a little over 400 years ago. Galileo actually named the lights after Aurora, the Roman Goddess of morning.
Northern Lights don’t always happen North of the equator
In 1770, James Cook - captain of HMS Endeavour - witnessed one of the largest auroral displays in recorded history from Timor Island in Indonesia, nine degrees south of the equator.
Norse mythology doesn’t actually mention the Northern Lights
For hundreds of years, people have claimed that the Vikings incorporated the Northern Lights into their mythology. It was said the auroras were thought to be the Bifrost - a bridge to heaven - or flashes of light from the shields of the Valkyries fighting in the sky. However, there is no evidence for these widely believed claims, and Norse mythology makes no mention of the Lights.
The Northern Lights can be seen from space
The Northern and Southern Lights have been photographed from the surface of the Moon using a special UV camera, ferried to the Moon by the Apollo 16 astronauts. The technology used for these photographs formed the basis for UV astronomy. Furthermore, those Astronauts on the International Space Station can view both the Northern and Southern Auroras as they travel around the globe.
Auroras exist on every planet in our Solar System except Mercury
All the planets that make up the Milky Way Solar System except for Mercury – the planet closest to the sun – experience some sort of Aurora. Jupiter can produce its own auroras using material from its volcanic moon Io, the most geologically active object in the Solar System, and Mars exhibits strange 'proton' auroras. Auroras have even been found on other stars in the Galaxy.
Photographs enhance the colours of the Northern Lights
The human eye has not yet adapted to see the colours produced by the Northern Lights in the dark conditions needed for them to appear, meaning they seem less colourful than photographs make them appear.
Auroras really can make sounds
Long thought to be a ‘psycho-acoustic’ illusion, it has been discovered that under the right conditions, a pocket of warm air above the ground can cause a static build-up and discharge during auroral display, resulting in crackling and hissing noises. This means that those who thought they could hear the auroras were actually right! Aurora noise is a 'white whale' and obsessively searched for by seasoned aurora-chasers.
SEE THE NORTHERN LIGHTS ON A 14-NIGHT CRUISE TO NORWAY WITH COUNTRY LIVING
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