Northern Lights

[Tonibe63]

Her indoors is asking when to take her remaining holidays and I thought about seeing The Northern Lights.
Have to admit I don't know much about them so I'm just throwing out some questions to the collective experts.
So:-
When does it occur?
Can you see it from Scotland and if so where?
Is it a guaranteed event or here today gone tomorrow sort of thing?

Any help much appreciated

cheers-Tony

[Flintlock]

Winter months best time. Yes they can be seen from Scotland (and also sometimes here in N.Ireland) The further north the better.

There is probably a web site that gives you info on it (best times etc)

Hopefully someone else will come on here and give you more info

[Farmer Palmer]

Iceland near Hofn over Vatnajokull Icecap in November.......Absolutely stunning but we do see them in southern Scotland sometimes too..........!

Good chance in Shetland and you can sign up to Aurora alert and you'll be emailed if there's a high probability of activity!

FP.

[Hacknslash]

Hi Tony

You can see them from the south of england on a good day, check out this link http://aurorawatch.lancs.ac.uk/. You can subscribe to alerts if you want.

Another good site is Space Weather, http://www.spaceweather.com/.

Good luck.
Ian

[Road2Manchester]

We prefer to call them Blackopool Lights, run from September for about 6 weeks. :laugh: :unsure:

[Redmurty]

Seen them twice in Norway. That's the place i would go to watch them again cheers Spud

[snaphappy]

Hard to know when they will happen though as they are part of a solar storm, it is pot luck. The further north you can get and away from urban areas will increase your chances.

[MadRat]

Hard to know when they will happen though as they are part of a solar storm, it is pot luck. The further north you can get and away from urban areas will increase your chances.

Yep.... You have to go chasing them......

No cloud and a solar storm....

Saw them once in Iceland... Chasing the cloud gaps and atmospheric conditions in a Big Jacked up Very Off-Road Landrover...

And we were the only team out to get a glimpse.....

Best of luck...

[isoiivari]

The sami people here in Finland say that they can hear the nothern lights comming. A friend of mine has heard it and he says its a strange sound =)

I have seen them plenty of times but never heard it.

Best of luck, its a really speciell experience

[appleby]

I saw them on Shetland!

Travelled to the tip of Unst to see the lazer show! B)

It was christmas 2002, cold & frosty. They were visible for 2 of the 6 nights I was there .... So 1 in 3 chance by those odds?