See Northern Lights In Finland's Lapland
Where to See the Aurora Borealis in Finnish Lapland
Sep 29, 2009
The Aurora Borealis are a light phenomena that light up the sky in the northern polar regions during the darkest times of the year. The Northern Lights can be yellowish green and red, but also blue and violet, and they brighten up the night sky in the Finnish Lapland in wintertime with an amazing light show. The Northern Lights can move from east to west, they can appear as rays, or they can be fast-moving, pulsing shapes. Their colours and shapes change rapidly, and they can provide as much light as a full moon.
Where to See the Northern Lights
Winter in the Finnish Lapland is dark: between the months of November and January the sun does not rise above the horizon at all. This dark northern wintertime is known as the Polar Night (the Finnish call it “kaamos”), and in this darkness the Northern Lights look magical and stunning.
The Aurora Borealis can be seen in most parts of Lapland. The best times for Northern Lights viewing are September and October, and again February and March in the Kilpisjärvi area in Northern Finland. During these times the Northern Lights can be seen as often as every other night. Sometimes, if the weather is right, the Northern Lights can even be seen in southern Finland, but this is rare. The best time to view the Northern Lights is on a cloudless night, away from city lights, house lights and other "light pollution”.
What Are the Northern Lights
The Aurora Borealis are a light phenomena, typical to the Earth’s polar regions, in which charged particles carried by polar winds hit electrons and protons in the Earth’s ionosphere. These particles come from the Sun and are thrown into space with solar winds at a speed of up to a thousand kilometres in an hour. The light emitted by the Northern Lights is usually formed at a height of around 100 kilometres, when the electrified particles accelerated by Earth’s magnetic fields hit air molecules, which disperse some of their accumulated energy in the form of light. Yellowish green and red Northern Lights are produced by oxygen in the atmosphere, blue and violet Northern Lights are produced by nitrogen.
Finns call Northern Lights by the name “revontulet”, a word that means “fox’s fire” and is based on a folktale about a fox that swished its tail and produced sparks in the air. And according to an old Asian belief, whoever sees the Northern Lights will live happily forever.
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