Month: October 2023

Our northern lights display in Tromsø was just the appetizer for the main course in Alta on the evening of Friday, 13 October 2023! Multicolored pillars at 10:13 pm I wasn’t able to take an excursion out into the countryside this evening, so I scouted the container yard and airport perimeter near the ship to try to find a place with as few streetlights as possible. When I checked the forecast at 9:30 pm, I saw that an “interplanetary storm” was underway. Time to run out and get to work! I was in place by 10 pm. Curtain forming at 10:27 pm As soon as my eyes adapted to the dark, I saw auroras forming to the northeast. They quickly developed into a multi-colored curtain that shimmered and steadily grew in height and length. The pillars grow in height at 10:35 pm The curtain continued to dance, and the colors were more intense than any I’d seen before. https://youtu.be/Sh-54Ch2JG4 Animation of auroras between 10:34 and 10:36 pm 10:37 pm The...

Guests from the Silversea Silver Dawn were treated to a stunning display of northern lights from a husky camp on Kvaløya (Whale Island), west of Tromsø, on the evening of October 12, 2023. As always seems to happen with aurora-watching excursions, the forecast for the evening was not promising: overcast with snow developing, and the Glendale app predicted no chance of auroras developing. I almost left my camera and tripod on the ship, but changed my mind at the last minute. After we greeted the friendly huskies at the camp, we went inside a hut to warm up and feast on some delicious bacalao, an amazing cod stew. Our local guides, Eike and Carlo, were enthusiastic and optimistic that we would see something in the sky that evening. They huddled around the campfire outside while we ate dinner. I excused myself after wolfing down my bowl of stew and went outside to check the sky. It was 8:45 pm. I hadn't been...