Believe your eyes: the world’s strangest optical illusions and mirages. Can you believe your eyes? When it comes to these head-twisters, chances are you can't. Come around the globe with us on a tour of 'Did you just see what I just saw? 's. 1. Way up north (or way down south) the clear and pure air brings distant objects into sharp focus. Touring the Antarctic? 2. Herman Melville called it 'God's burning finger'. You can't miss the Castle, louring over the town from its volcanic perch. 3. A space spectacular, the polar lights are a dazzling Arctic and Antarctic display, their colourful sheets of light transforming the endless winter nights into natural lava-lamps. With a latitude of N 69°, the Norwegian town of Alta is renowned as an excellent base to see the lights. 4. Image by Keiichirou Shikano For thousands of years anyone lucky enough to witness this extraordinary optical phenomenon probably thought they were in the presence of God or undergoing their own spiritual rebirth. 5. 6.
This is one for a spring day. 7. 8. 9. 10. Aurora Borealis / Northern Lights - Lonely Planet travel forum. You have to come in the winter in order to have darkness (the NL are normally very faint). Not a very ideal time of the year to see anything else. Cold and very short days - or no real daylaight at all. Is "norther culture" = Sami or?? You have to make sure that there will be no clouds. How you can? I do not know. Best chances are NORMALLY getting inland like Sweden/Finland. Best chanches northern say 25% of Norway/Sweden/Finland.
You have to get away from streetlights - that is out of towns - staying a countryside hotels etc. - and that means that inconvenient without own transport. The chances to see it if spending say 1 week up north - out watching every night with clear skies - maybe 10%-20% (wonder if anyone actually have these numbers - if there is a record?). If the only purpose going there is the NL, the risk that you will see nothing is unfortunately terribly high. Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) - Lonely Planet travel forum. Northern lights questions - Lonely Planet travel forum. Hi everyone, I know there's already a thread below about northern lights but i have more questions: each time it appears, how long do they typically last for? Is it a big thing for people who live there too? If I'm in a bar having a drink and aurora appears outside, would people start telling everyone or will they not even be bothered? Pardon the questions, I live in the tropics. Man, would hate to learn that say 10 days I was there, northern lights appeared every night but I missed them all because either I was asleep, or was in the toilet that short 5 mins, or in the bar and nobody said anything because the locals all don't find it special enough to mention!!
Northern Lights in Scandinavia - Lonely Planet travel forum. I posted this on the FAQ thread a while ago, but here goes anyway. Northern Lights Information, FAQ and Where to View Yes, here is the one of the most often asked questions. When or will I be able to observe the lights? " The answer is no one knows for sure, not until a few hours before the actual display. The aurora isn't constant; it is always on the move. Observing the aurora is a test of your patience and the aurora itself. Northern lights are more frequent in late autumn and early spring. The best that can happen is to predict aurora displays three days in advance. Northern lights activity corresponds closely to sunspot activity, which follows an 11-year cycle.
How often can you see the Northern Lights? When can we see the Northern Lights? How high up are the Northern Lights? What exactly are the Northern Lights? There you go it's pot luck and never try to observe them in the morning, wait at least until 1900 and hopefully the weather is clear. Norway: come for the sun, stay for the light show. When it comes to spotting natural phenomena, it's hard to go past Norway. From August, you'll catch the end of the midnight sun and, if you're lucky, the start of the dancing light show put on by aurora borealis.
And when that's not happening you'll have your sense of perception challenged. Here's a guide to three of Norway's more entrancing spectacles, taken from Lonely Planet's Norway guide: Midnight sun (and polar night) Because the Earth is tilted on its axis, polar regions are constantly facing the sun at their respective summer solstices and are tilted away from it in the winter.
The Arctic and Antarctic circles, at 66° 33’ north and south latitude respectively, are the southern and northern limits of constant daylight on their longest day of the year. The northern half of mainland Norway, as well as Svalbard and Jan Mayen island, lie north of the Arctic Circle but, even in southern Norway, the summer sun is never far below the horizon. For sun timetables, head to visitnorway.com.
Northern Lights: a how-to guide. There are few phenomena that capture the imagination like the Aurora Borealis. The Northern Lights appear only at high latitudes on dark nights from September to March, and lucky star-gazers can witness anything from an ethereal green glow on the horizon to pulsating scarlet streaks across the sky. Countries across Scandinavia, as well as Canada, Alaska, Russia and even Scotland, are home to this seasonal spectacle and travellers cross the globe in the hope of glimpsing it.
The liveliest phase of the 11-year solar cycle is now, so it's little wonder that so many travellers are poised to search out the gleaming horizons of the north. But the Northern Lights are as fickle as they are inspiring, so aurora-hunters need a hefty dose of luck along with good planning. Weather, timing and light pollution can spell the difference between celestial wonder and a freezing night spent looking at your watch. The basics What are the Northern Lights? Where can I find them? Planning your trip.