Northern lights: what they don't tell, but you need to know!

The northern lights are amazing but what you see on a picture isn't the same like what you see with the naked eye. This video gives an explanation about the four stages you can experience seeing the aurora borealis.

[ooupskitty]

When I flew from Canada back to Europe I flew right through the Northen Lights. We were flighing at night. I was almost asleep but woke up because I saw some green lights. To my surprise it were the real Northern Lights. Suddenly all the passengers were awake & enjoyed this 'show'. I went for 6months to Canada (close to the border of Alaska) but never actually saw the Northern Lights. This was the best flight ever. 🙀😻 🌌

[itetcastro]

My dream to see the northern light...someday.

[freddymarcel-marcum]

I've never seen a video of the Northern Lights that isn't sped up x20.

[jeremylevy]

I can confirm all of this as well. I went to Iceland about a year ago with the sole purpose of seeing the Northern Lights and didn't know what to expect. When the display is weak, it is underwhelming and you're straining to distinguish between whether it's a cloud or the Aurora Borealis. However, as he describes, when it's a strong display and you get lucky, there's no mistaking it. It's truly breathtaking and bright, with the Aurora quite literally dancing above you. 10/10 highly recommend...and if you're reading this with plans to go on a similar adventure, please dress super warm. You're going to be out in the arctic night for hours most likely.

[YouTube_Satan]

You never know with the aurora. Suddenly it happens, and just as suddenly is gone. Never ceases to amaze tho.

[Snoopydoop]

as a kid in the faroe islands i witnessed the northern lights at an extreme, it was late in fall and it had gotten to the colder point of the year, the entire sky was alive, it was like a Raging ocean of polychromatic lights more colorful than a rainbow and brighter than a full moon! it looked so apocalyptic we were in awe and legitimately afraid. i have not seen it like that ever since and this was about 15-20 years ago

[tlewisAK]

I love watching the Aurora’s. I live interior Alaska, and I see them all the time. It’s amazing how cool they look when they dance across the night sky.

[misschilena]

I saw them in Banff, Canada, in may 2017 and it WAS EXACTLY as in the pictures. The sky was totally green. I think it was one of the strongest solar storm in the last 10 years, stage 5. I cried like a baby because I had never seen anything more spectacular than that.

[lizardfreak]

I just saw the northern lights for the first time on my grandparents farm. It was insanely beautiful, even if it just lasted for a few minutes and wasn’t the strongest. My Grandma just passed away, and today is the last night staying with the family I flew up to visit. We think that the lights were her, in one way or another♥️

[MyMagic]

Back in August 1966, my mother woke my brother and I from a sound sleep around 2 am. She wanted to show us something incredible. We trailed after her outside to see what had her all excited. When we arrived in our backyard, we looked up. It was like we were in a giant cathedral with drapes and streamers of light flickering from thousands of feet high. Above the mountains surrounding our valley, more curtains of light snapped and rippled. The lights were mostly greenish but there some faint signs of magenta as well. It was a sight that I have never forgotten.

[annalang]

It's my biggest dream to see the northern lights in my life

[manuu]

I have been in Iceland last September and got to watch the Northern Lights. After 10 years of dreaming to see the lights, I was disappointed beyond belief, its almost as if my heart was crushed. There was a whitish grey haze like a cloud stretching across the sky, which was stunning in the pictures with long exposure. But the second day, there was a powerful solar storm (Kp>5) and there was a good show with mild greenish white, purple lights dancing across the sky. Yes that was beautiful and I was awestruck, but still cant compare with the pictures. So go with moderate expectations, hoping for a good solar storm, else prepare for a white haze. Also, some people's eyes are real sensitive to colors, they can see them a bit brighter than others. Anyway am a happy man!


Tip: Try not looking into your mobile phones or other artificial light sources for sometime as the eyes need to adjust to the darkness to see the northern light colors more vividly.

[DevinParker]

Thank you for this! Every time I've tried to look for what the Northern Lights look like on YouTube, it's a timelapse. I wanted to know what they look like when you're actually standing there looking at them. I appreciate you breaking this down into the actual experience and stages.

[mollystroot]

I've had the privilege of seeing some amazing northern lights. Way in northern Minnesota on the Canadian border, they were green and blue and white and yellow. Swirling around and dancing in the sky. I was in the boundary waters canoe area. We were doing some nighttime canoeing. It was something I'll remember for the rest of my life! Incredibly mesmerizing.

[genericalfishtycoon]

I just watched the Northern lights in my home state of Maine. Stayed up all night watching them during the solar storm last seek. I had tears streaming down my face, i couldn't believe what I was looking at. It was pulsing and rippling across the sky. There were huge pickets in a ring area, but the boundaries were where the really incredible stuff was happening. I can't find any videos anywhere that compare to what I saw with my own eyes. It was rapidly popping in and out of existence like a strobe light, but im the pattern of ripples on a pond of if you rubbed your eyes really hard. The bright parts were beautiful, but the very faded parts that were going nuts were glorious.

[Sunshine-uvwe]

I wish I could see Northern Lights in person one day, someday, before I die.... Thank you for this wonderful video.

[andreaspersson]

Living in North sweden and I have probably seen the Northern lights a thousands of times. Still it sometimes can make me amazed with shapes, speed and colours.
Many even among us that lives up here doesn't know that it makes a sound.
You have to be very far away from civilization and without disturbing sounds to hear it.
It is many years since I heard it now even thou I live 17km away from a city and that is because I live by the river and the rapids water sound.
I have made some time lapses from my property.

[ladyviolet]

This si the only true video about northern light so far... i agree with you. I saw it in iceland

[vickygarnett]

I’ve been very fortunate to have seen the Northern Lights in both Tromsø and Iceland. But I am very aware of how lucky I am because they are such fickle things! My recommendation for anyone planning a trip to see the Northern Lights is to make sure your trip is not all about seeing the Northern Lights. Go somewhere where there are other things to do and see. Because then if you go all that way and don’t see them, you’ll still have had a great trip. Think of the Northern Lights as a bonus to your holiday.

[northernskies]

Last week, I saw the best northern lights of my life in central MN (just an hour north of Minneapolis). They were easily stage 4 described in this video. However, instead of undulating ribbons of light, the sky was like a concert, with pink strobes covering the whole sky. The reds were also the deepest reds I’ve seen, easily visible to my naked eye. The storm that caused this amazing show ranked as a G4 (kp8) severe geomagnetic storm, the strongest storm since 2017. Even still, I didn’t expect to see such a surreal show this far south.