The Northern Lights

Last month, at 11:30pm on May 10th to be precise, residents of the Secret Coast who were still up and about were treated to a fabulous experience - the Northern Lights appeared in a really dramatic way.

I was fast asleep in my bed but my neighbour took these beautiful shots.

Northern Lights on the Secret Coast

To be able to see the lights, various factors have to align. The sky must be clear and it must be really dark. Luckily Loch Riddon Bothy has wonderfully dark skies.

Usually the best time to see the Aurora is between September and March. Luckily there are often plenty of alerts given out and indeed whole Apps devoted to the subject. Clearly the amazing siting last month was well outwith the September to March period.

Apparently it is often hard to make out the pinky colours with the naked eye but if you just start taking pictures these tones are revealed.

The other slightly strange thing was that this view of the Lights was not taken looking north but indeed south west - clearly one just has to be alert to the possibilites all the time and look in all directions.

Northern Lights in a different location showing different colours

The science behind the phenomenon is that the lights appear when tiny particles stream out from the Sun and hit Earth’s atmosphere. The particles give some of their energy to atoms and molecules of gases in the upper atmosphere. But the atoms and molecules cannot hold the energy. They quickly give it off as another kind of energy—the colours of light that we call the aurora. These lights occur most often around the North Pole and South Pole because the incoming particles have an electric charge. As the particles arrive, Earth’s magnetic field guides them toward the poles.

We can’t promise you a Northern Lights spectacular or even clear skies but isn’t it wonderful to think that it might happen.