They’re quite the star of the bucket list, and for good reason, they’re the world’s most iconic light show after all. You’ll probably see a picture of this luminous phenomenon of our starry skies and immediately picture yourself gazing at the dancing green lights in Arctic wilderness, oh, how we love the Aurora Borealis. But it’s not all about the Borealis – the Southern Hemisphere’s answer to the Northern Lights is just as spectacular.
The lights, officially called Aurelius Borealis, feature throughout history and have spawned many legends. In fact they were named after the Roman goddess of Dawn, Aurora, and the Greek name for the north wind, Boreas, in 1621.
Caused by the sun lying behind the formation of the auroras; the energy released during large solar explosions interacts with the atmosphere around the magnetic North Pole and causes the phenomenon approximately 100 kilometres above our heads. The lights occur all year round, but visibility is weather dependent and in parts of the world they can only be seen during certain months; in Greenland they are blocked out during summer by the midnight sun.
Other places you can see the mysterious Aurora Borealis include Alaska, Denmark, Scotland, Canada, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia and Sweden, or for the Aurora Australis, head to Southern New Zealand, Southern Australia or Antarctica.
Once you decide to observe the spectacle of the Northern and Southern Lights let us help you with the where and how. Would you like to see them after a day of snow dog racing in Alaska? Or from your hotel outside of Reykjavik after a personal wake-up call? Perhaps a Swedish forest is your preferred viewing spot? For more information get in touch with us today.
