Aurora borealis

[Wild-Woman]

We are planning a holiday this year in Scotland.My hubby has always wanted to see the Northern Lights but we need to know where and when is best. Ta. ww

[henrya]

There is a website somewhere that tells you the likelihood of seeing the AB, and where. A colleague uses it - I'll get the URL off him tomorrow.

henrya

[Mark43]

Found this

http://www.visitscotland.com/aboutsc...auroraborealis

http://www.wildlifehebrides.com/safari/chronicles/

Hope they help a bit.

[Wild-Woman]

Thanks for info. Looks like we have missed the boat on timing then. Didn't realise they are in a cycle. Looks like we'll have to look for old Nessie instead.ww

[Mark43]

And this

http://www.dcs.lancs.ac.uk/iono/aurorawatch/

[Wolfhill]

Hi wild-woman I live in Perthshire and every so often we see the northern lights some nights have been really spectacular large displays, you can see two images of the Aurora Borealis I took near my home in Perthshire through these links:

http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/ga...mage-4891.html
http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/ga...mage-4890.html

I would say the best time of year to see the Northern lights in Scotland is in Autumn this is purely beceause this is when I see it most often, The best places to go to see the Northern lights in Scotland would be as far north as possible as this is where you are more likely to see some activity. However it all depends on Sunspots on the surface of the sun facing towards Earth which trigger off the possibility of the Aurora Borealis. I am a member of a site called
www.spaceweather.com/
this site emails you when there is any solar activity eg Aurora Borealis.
Hope this helps.
Fergus

[paulst]

You are so lucky, ive been into astronomy for many years and have never seen the northern lights, oh well, maybe one day paul

[Polecat]

I watched the show for the first time a few years ago here in wales, it is sometimes visible in kent too!........and further south in France. Mark 43 's link is good, they'll email you when activity may be visible. Getting to a place with little light pollution does boost your chances.....
.........It is worth every nights sleep lost or a journey to canada/norway etc...to watch, nothing else quite compares in this terrestrial world IMO.

[henrya]

Quote
it is sometimes visible in kent too!
Endquote

Quite right. My father was living in Dover during the war, and saw a splendid display, which was, of course, particularly visible because of the blackout. But many people didn't know what it was, and thought it was some new weapon!


henrya

[paulst]

You can seem them in N England at times, but the light pollution is very bad so I havent seen any paul