I wish I had a better title for my post about the Northern Lights, but I'm at a loss for words. It was one of the coolest things I've ever seen in my life.
We didn't have very good weather for the lights, so I was a little nervous that we weren't going to be able to see them --- and for a long time, we didn't. Seeing the Northern Lights is a little like being a storm chaser in Twister, but a lot less exciting and no flying cows. When I got picked up, the drivers still weren't sure where we were going. They were examining all the reports and making a game time call. We ended up driving to the west of the city and parking in an area that looks like it might be used for teen makeout sessions (not that I frequent those types of areas, but I watch TV).
Anyway, we got out of the van and waited. And waited. And looked at the sky again and waited. To give you a sense of the time, it was 9pm when I got picked up and took about 15 minutes to drive to the makeout spot. The lights didn't really appear until about 11pm. That is a long time to be standing outside in the freezing cold.
While we were waiting in the cold, the guides of the various vans were having discussions about whether to drive to different areas or not. Viewing of the Northern Lights is impacted by cloud cover and in Iceland, the clouds come down fast. So, an area that was clear 10 minutes ago may be covered now. Apparently, there was no way to predict it. Our guide, who has been "chasing the Northern Lights" since 1996, decided to stay.
We started to get a little glow in the sky and the guides got all excited and said "we have Northern Lights!" I'm looking up in the sky thinking "These Icelanders have duped me!". The guides said that a lot of the Northern Lights are not visible to the naked eye, but show up on cameras. Basically, the Lights showed up at first as a glow in the sky. It kind of looked like a spotlight breaking through clouds. I was thinking "Really? This is what all the fuss is about? Lame." Boy, was I wrong.
The Lights came out in full force and lasted about 25 minutes. Like I said, it started as a bit of a glow and it arched across the sky. Then, it there was a second arch (per the guides, a pretty rare occurrence). The first arch started getting brighter and brighter and then it was unreal. The Lights looked like they started dancing. They were rolling across the sky and it looked like....actually, I can't think of anything that it looked like. To say that they were dancing across the sky sounds stupid and overly dramatic, but it is close. The colors from green (which is the most commonly seen color) to a purplish red, which is much less common. For the science geek, the green color is caused by collisions with oxygen particles. Nitrogen collisions give off the purple-red aurora.
Before anyone asks, yes, I took a few pictures, but my crap camera wasn't good enough to register it all and the iPhone picked up nothing (too far away, I think). I wanted to focus on enjoying it and not staring at it through a view finder, so I gave up after a few minutes.
After the lights stopped, the sky was pitch black, which made me further appreciate how much they really lit up the sky. I can only imagine what it would have looked like if there weren't any clouds.
OK, what I'm about to say is really going to sound overly dramatic, but still true --- if I didn't already believe in God, I would after seeing that show. It was so beautiful and I know there is a science behind it, but it was unlike anything I've ever seen. There has to be a greater power behind that. I felt like I was in some science-fiction movie because it almost didn't seem real.
In case I was too subtle in this post, I would highly recommend it to anyone else. It is a crap-shoot because you never know when/if the Lights are going to come out, so you have to be prepared for that, but if you get the chance, I would jump on it.
We didn't have very good weather for the lights, so I was a little nervous that we weren't going to be able to see them --- and for a long time, we didn't. Seeing the Northern Lights is a little like being a storm chaser in Twister, but a lot less exciting and no flying cows. When I got picked up, the drivers still weren't sure where we were going. They were examining all the reports and making a game time call. We ended up driving to the west of the city and parking in an area that looks like it might be used for teen makeout sessions (not that I frequent those types of areas, but I watch TV).
Anyway, we got out of the van and waited. And waited. And looked at the sky again and waited. To give you a sense of the time, it was 9pm when I got picked up and took about 15 minutes to drive to the makeout spot. The lights didn't really appear until about 11pm. That is a long time to be standing outside in the freezing cold.
While we were waiting in the cold, the guides of the various vans were having discussions about whether to drive to different areas or not. Viewing of the Northern Lights is impacted by cloud cover and in Iceland, the clouds come down fast. So, an area that was clear 10 minutes ago may be covered now. Apparently, there was no way to predict it. Our guide, who has been "chasing the Northern Lights" since 1996, decided to stay.
We started to get a little glow in the sky and the guides got all excited and said "we have Northern Lights!" I'm looking up in the sky thinking "These Icelanders have duped me!". The guides said that a lot of the Northern Lights are not visible to the naked eye, but show up on cameras. Basically, the Lights showed up at first as a glow in the sky. It kind of looked like a spotlight breaking through clouds. I was thinking "Really? This is what all the fuss is about? Lame." Boy, was I wrong.
The Lights came out in full force and lasted about 25 minutes. Like I said, it started as a bit of a glow and it arched across the sky. Then, it there was a second arch (per the guides, a pretty rare occurrence). The first arch started getting brighter and brighter and then it was unreal. The Lights looked like they started dancing. They were rolling across the sky and it looked like....actually, I can't think of anything that it looked like. To say that they were dancing across the sky sounds stupid and overly dramatic, but it is close. The colors from green (which is the most commonly seen color) to a purplish red, which is much less common. For the science geek, the green color is caused by collisions with oxygen particles. Nitrogen collisions give off the purple-red aurora.
Before anyone asks, yes, I took a few pictures, but my crap camera wasn't good enough to register it all and the iPhone picked up nothing (too far away, I think). I wanted to focus on enjoying it and not staring at it through a view finder, so I gave up after a few minutes.
After the lights stopped, the sky was pitch black, which made me further appreciate how much they really lit up the sky. I can only imagine what it would have looked like if there weren't any clouds.
OK, what I'm about to say is really going to sound overly dramatic, but still true --- if I didn't already believe in God, I would after seeing that show. It was so beautiful and I know there is a science behind it, but it was unlike anything I've ever seen. There has to be a greater power behind that. I felt like I was in some science-fiction movie because it almost didn't seem real.
In case I was too subtle in this post, I would highly recommend it to anyone else. It is a crap-shoot because you never know when/if the Lights are going to come out, so you have to be prepared for that, but if you get the chance, I would jump on it.
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