I didn’t know what to expect when I arrived in Abisko Lapland because I have never seen Northern Lights before. We booked the trip early on and the closer to the date we got we realized that seeing this natural phenomenon was not a guarantee. There are a lot of factors that play into it, first and foremost it depends on the sun. The sun has holes that release solar flares, and as the sun rotates these holes need to be aligned so it releases in the right trajectory towards the North Pole in this case. The solar flares consist of charged particles called ions. When these sun bursts come towards earth it’s the magnetic field that blocks and protects the earth. Without it our atmosphere would be ripped apart. During this collision some ions still surpass the magnetic field and get trapped in something called the ionosphere. This is where the magic happens. When the ions collide with oxygen in the lower atmosphere you get green colours, which is most common and which appeared in most of my photos. If the ions on the other hand collide with nitrogen further up in the atmosphere you get red colour, this will show in the next photo below. So all these colours are actually created on different levels far away from eachother.
Alright so enough with the science. As I said before we knew it was not certain that we would see it, and the solar activity forecast was not good, also the sky was filled with clouds when we arrived in Abisko. The weather is the second most important factor because without a clear sky you can’t see the northern lights because it would be covered like a sheet hanging in front of a tv with a movie you really want to see. Anyways we decided to still head down to the lake to hopefully see something on the first day. The hotel personal had earlier told us that the reason why Abisko is one of the best places on earth to see northern lights is because it has a kind of micro climate or a blue hole they call it that keeps the clouds away. Don’t ask me how.
Anyways, in the beginning there was nothing, and then suddenly, a little passed seven a clock we saw something was happening on the horizon and just like that the show had started. In the beginning it was not very powerful, but then it suddenly picked up speed and I got to experience one of the coolest things I’ve ever had the chance to witness.
The light display started behind the mountains in the north, but then it slowly started circling around. I was basically having to chase with my camera as it danced around. After it moved over to the opposite side of where it started something quite unusual happened. The northern lights started crowning, which means that it went from the horizon to right above us.
The light was now moving really fast so I had to lower the shutter speed from around 10 seconds to just 1 or 2 seconds.
Sitting on my knees with the tripod I was shooting the pictures straight up in the sky. Everyone that was outside were cheering and it was an awesome feeling sharing it with people from all over the world.
The next day I talked to the guide that was taking us to our next adventure ( I will make a post about it tomorrow), he said that we were really lucky to see so much activity and that the skies were so clear. Basically he says it was as good as it could get and I feel so happy that me and my wife could make the journey and witness this natural phenomenon. It’s a journey and moment I will never forget.