Livestreaming the Aurora Borealis from Lapland

I’d love to see this in real life some day.

I've seen them twice and until you actually see them they're almost impossible to describe or even appreciate on a small screen

It would freak me the fuck out.

^ No, it's wondrous, like going to the biggest IMAX theater in the world. You get completely enveloped in raining sparks of multi-color light with no end or beginning

This is the closest thing I've ever seen that's like the Aurora Borealis. Just imagine being in the middle of this gif

I JUST booked a week in Fairbanks, Alaska to see the Aurora Borealis! Jealous, bitches?

I'm going to spend two nights at Chena Hot Springs, soaking and watching, and two nights in a wilderness lodge on a mountain that is above the fog line or whatever it's called. I will also have two nights in Fairbanks proper in a hotel that has an observation room. Days will be about 5 hours of light when I'm there. I hope to squeeze in a dog sledding tour.

I've wanted to see AB live in person since watching "Local Hero" in the early 80s. This is a bucket list item getting checked off. My friend died of covid over Labor Day weekend and everything is fucked, so here I go.

^ The Aurora Borealis does not work on a schedule like the changing Fall leaf color, so good luck seeing them. Enjoy your trip, but don't be too disappointed if the AB doesn't show

I saw the Borealis once, in Nova Scotia, when I was a kid. It's impossible to do them justice in a description. It was unearthly. My father brought me out to our garden and pointed up to the northern sky. I was entranced. One odd thing I remember vividly - there was a soft, sibilant, whooshing sound. I'll never forget it.

They sing? Take me with you, R6!

@r8, yes, that's the sound I remember. Not loud like fireworks, but more like the sound when it snows

I saw a little of them 40 years ago in Montauk. No one believed me and there was no reporting on it at the time. Now we know that it happens during strong solar storms.

Obscure eldergay fact- I had to deliver photos to Richard Avedon. He wasn't home but there were workmen around this giant pit, for what I don't know. Later I saw the movie My Dinner with Andre they discuss having a therapy session or something in Richard Avedon's pit.

I'm Norwegian and I've never seen northern lights. I live in southern Norway, it only rarely appears here. It is much more common in the northern parts.

Apparently it comes from Rio de Janeiro.

Humpf. ^

I AM HERE, BITCHES, AND I SAW IT TWO NIGHTS IN A ROW!!!

Are Flock of Seagulls there?

No, I ran.

r15 glad you got to see it. was it all that you expected?

R6/15, I've been on DL a long time and for the first time, I actually AM jealous.

Tell us what it was like.

Motherfuck! I just typed a big recap and fucking erased it by accidentally going to another page. So anyway....

On 1/7-8 We were at Chena Hot Springs, in a valley. Aurora activity was predicted to be low. (It had been high around NYE.) On the first night I stood out in the cold from about 10-1 am (off & on, coming in to warm up occasionally). I was alone watching along the ridge line when I saw a pale cloudy formation. I wasn't sure if that was it, or I was imagining it just because I wanted to see it. The cloudiness moved, changed shape, shifted positions and grew more intense and bright, and I was pretty sure I was seeing it.

The next day a guy at the activity center confirmed I'd seen it and he estimated it would start about 9:30--10 pm that night. I got outside about 10 (a bunch of other people there) and the light was much more intense than the previous night along the ridge line. There was also big streaks arcing over us like rainbows, and light was changing shape and intensity over the ridges. At one point I dragged a folding chair outside and was looking forward to the ridge line and when I glanced to the right one streak was coming up from beyond the mountain and going right over my head toward the opposite side of the valley. Loved that part.

All this said, the human eye does not perceive the colors of the AB the same way it appears in photos. The latest models of iphones can get pics of it, as can cameras with the proper settings. It's all about long exposures and the f stop and ISO, and a tripod, blah blah. My camera couldn't do it, but luckily some guy standing by us had the set up and shared the pics he took of the sky we all saw. Looks different in photos, so it was great to have the experience and the pics.

On the 10th & 11th we were at the mountaintop lodge, the whole point of this place being the AB view. Weather had changed and it was cloudy. A group came to view the lights that night. One guy got a shot of the lights through a crack between clouds, photo was shared. Other than that, not much was seen.

It was disappointing not to see anything from the lodge, but I felt lucky having seen it in the hot springs valley. As in many situations, the weather is the boss and there's nothing you can do about it.

The geophysical institute has predictions and a web cam. SUNDAY the 16th is supposed to be another HIGH activity night, as is 2/2, so check it out.

PS the dog sledding ride was magical at sunset. I also did a snow mobile trip and we met two moose on the trail. I did not crash, flip or get stuck in soft snow off the trail. Super fun week in Alaska, bucket list CHECKED.