Hunting the Northern Lights in Norway

Join me in search of the northern lights in Norway this coming February (2012) aboard the Hurtigruten ship MS Midnatsol. Inspired partly by Joanna Lumley’s evocative BBC TV programme, more people than ever are travelling north to see what is widely regarded as one of the most spectacular phenomena in nature.

These luminous wisps and curtains of light tripping like phantoms across the polar skies are caused by atomic particles from the Sun bombarding the Earth’s upper atmosphere and making it glow. Aurorae occur around the poles because the Earth’s magnetic field funnels the solar particles down onto the atmosphere in the polar regions. Hence you need to travel north to see them at their best – and one of the prime places for aurora watching is the clear, dark skies of Norway.

I will be aboard the Midnatsol as it cruises the fjords from Bergen northwards to within skiing distance of the Russian border and back again for 11 days from February 22 to March 3 (see Northern Lights Astronomy Voyage 2012). If you are unable to make that date, Dr John Mason is accompanying two other trips, departing January 20 and March 15.

As well as observing sessions on deck I will be giving six lectures on various aspects of astronomy – not just aurorae but the Moon, planets, comets and of course the myths and legends of the constellations. And you will be able to participate in the day-to-day life aboard the Midnatsol, the biggest and newest of the fleet of Hurtigruten ships that acts not only as a tourist ship but also as a lifeline to the small towns along the coast of Norway.

I will be at the Telegraph Cruise Show at the NEC Birmingham on October 29–30 so come along to hear more!

* For more about what causes the aurorae and what you can expect to see, download the summary of my talk Fantastic Lights:

http://www.ianridpath.com/aurorae.pdf

AstroFesting in London... and chasing the fantastic Northern Lights in Norway

The annual feast of astronomy called AstroFest is just a week away, and I for one can’t wait. We have probably the most exciting and varied programme ever, which is saying something given the quality of recent line-ups.
http://www.astronomynow.com/astrofest/

The Saturday afternoon session is already sold out – no doubt something to do with Professor Brian Cox, the poster boy for astronomy in the UK. As well as his talk on the Big Bang, Brian will be signing copies of Wonders of the Solar System, the book that accompanied his first TV series. A second series, called Wonders of the Universe, is in production. I am consulting on the tie-in book for that one.

Other top speakers this year are Ed Krupp from the Griffith Observatory and planetarium in Los Angeles who is a world expert on prehistoric sites of astronomical interest. He has visited over 1,900 of them around the world – can there be any left he hasn’t been to? As well as talking about stone-age astronomy in his entertaining way, Ed will be gently poking fun at the misguided beliefs that the world is scheduled to end on 2012. You can see an extended version of his talk here (scroll to 7 minutes in to get to the start): http://media.voicesatbeckman.org/dv/110409/index.html

Another popular visitor is Chuck Wood, who for many years has run the Lunar Picture of the Day website http://lpod.wikispaces.com/. Chuck was one of the team at the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory in Arizona in the 1960s that helped map the Moon in preparation for the Apollo landings. I well remember looking with awe at the crisp, accurate charts they produced, which were far in advance of anything that had been seen before. The nomenclature of lunar features that they introduced remains the official standard.

Among other highlights, I’m looking forward to introducing Helen Keen, a comedian (comedienne?) who is going places and who can make rocket science funny. She has been entertaining audiences from the Edinburgh fringe to the National Space Centre in Leicester and the Science Museum in London and we are delighted to welcome her to AstroFest.


UPDATE: See photos from the show here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=30369&id=129047433818508

Chasing the lights
Beyond that, on February 20 I am off again to the Arctic to see the northern lights again with the Norwegian coastal line called the Hurtigruten. This year’s voyage on the MS Trollfjord is twice as long as last year, starting in Bergen and going to within skiing distance of the Russian border before returning south. Also this time we include a visit to the newly refurbished Northern Lights Planetarium in Tromsø, which I am particularly looking forward to. On board ship, I'll be giving six lectures including one about the northern lights and leading on-deck observing sessions, weather permitting.

Three weeks later I’ll be back in the Arctic again in pursuit of the magical lights, this time with Cruise and Maritime aboard their classic (i.e. rather old) ship Marco Polo: 
http://www.cruiseandmaritime.com/choose-a-cruise/View-Cruise-Details.aspx?CruiseId=117

Let’s hope the northern lights, and the weather, cooperate.