The northern lights

The bright dancing lights of the aurora are actually collisions between electrically charged particles from the sun that enter the earth's atmosphere. The lights are seen above the magnetic poles of the northern and southern hemispheres. They are known as 'Aurora borealis' in the north and 'Aurora australis' in the south.. 

Auroral displays appear in many colours although pale green and pink are the most common. Shades of red, yellow, green, blue, and violet have been reported. The lights appear in many forms from patches or scattered clouds of light to streamers, arcs, rippling curtains or shooting rays that light up the sky with an eerie glow.

We traveled north from Stockholm to Giellijohka where we saw the lights on our very first night.  Later the week we traveled to Ivalo, where we saw the northern lights 3 out of the four nights.  The two photos below shows the lights as taken with a normal cell phone.  It is brighter to the eye, but the human eye fails to see all the colors.  

It reminded me of the Bill Bryson story about his trip up north, where he waited for a long period before he eventually saw it on the second last night.  We were plain lucky.  His book also reminded me of his take on Finland.  In winter it is a white place, with lots of snow, and the little towns are disappointing from a travelers point of view.  His comment on this beauty was "What the fuck Finland?"  Travelling there makes you understand his point. 

However, it is beautiful with unlimited trees and forests, traffic cameras, wooden cottages and small friendly coffee shops. There are no petrol attendants, and fuel is more expensive.  Roads are in immaculate condition, although driving in snowy conditions were treacherous.