“Oh, roar a roar for Nora,
Nora Alice in the night.
For she has seen Aurora
Borealis burning bright.
A furore for our Nora!
And applaud Aurora seen!
Where, throughout the Summer,
has
our Borealis been?”
– Walt Kelly
The Northern Lights. They are one of the great wonders of the Universe that we can see right here on Earth without so much as a telescope. Ribbons of light formed by charged particles from the Sun interacting with Earth’s magnetic field, the ancient Finns thought the aurora borealis was the wagging tail of a cosmic fox, while the Laplanders thought them the souls of the dead. The Algonquin Indians thought they were the fires of their creator-god, as a reminder he loved them.
Only visible at night, and only at the Earth’s polar regions, winter heralds the “midnight lights.” But where to find them? And enjoy them? Here are a few of my picks.
Iceland
Gay-friendly Iceland is so far north, you can see the lights anywhere in the country, so it really depends on what you want going on the ground. Light pollution from capital Reykjavik dims the show a bit, so go to the primordial Jokulsarlon Glacier lagoon. Ground will be as dramatic as sky.
Wakkanai, Japan
About as north as you can go in Japan, in 2003 the city was blessed with a rare red aurora. They are usually pale green or white.
Fairbanks, Alaska
Get this: you can watch the lights from a hot spring. How cool is that? Two destinations in particular, Chena Resort and Manley Springs, get the US Geophysical Institute seal of approval.
Tromsø, Norway
Brr. It’s cold, but this pretty little Arctic town is one of the best on the planet for aurora watchers.
Nuuk, Greenland
The very rustic capital of Greenland may be a little sleepy on the ground, but it’s like Mardi Gras in the nighttime sky over Nuuk. Take an expedition onto the ice-white glaciers covering the interior and watch them take on the colors overhead.
Stewart Island, New Zealand
The South Pole gets them, too! Only here, they are called the aurora australis—the Southern Lights. Of course, the really good place is Antarctica, but as that continent is 1) hard to get to and 2) as inhospitable as it gets, Stewart Island makes a great alternative.
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