The Hunt for the Northern Lights

The solar cycle of 11 years was supposed to be at its maximum from 2012 to 2014. Predictions were that last December would bring the most spectacular displays. So we decided to brave the cold and head north for two weeks in Iceland.

We would check the aurora forecast site on our browser every day, it seemed the forecasts were either low and/or the cloud cover forecast was bad.

21 December 2013

We tried our luck for the first time, joining the northern lights mystery tour with Iceland Excursions. A whole fleet of large coaches ferried hopeful tourists in search of the lights as we travelled out of the city, getting away from the light.

Solar activity, cloud cover and light pollution were the three main factors that would affect our chances of spotting the mysterious auroras.

That night, the skies were clear, solar activity forecast was 2 (Low) on a scale of 0-9. But the website did say that "Even grade 2 (low activity) can be beautiful and grade 3 (moderate) can be dazzling," and when we booked our tour, the agent's response was that 'tonight's forecast is good so we are going out' (the tours didn't operate on days that the forecast was dismal), so we hoped for the best.

We got out of the bus and though there were no auroras, we were dazzled by the beautiful star lit sky.

My first attempts at photographing stars at night

The many coaches that brought us there

And then my tripod started spinning as I had accidentally loosened something, having set up the tripod in pitch dark conditions for the first time. Good thing it didn't happen when there were auroras. After more than one hour in the cold, the buses were leaving and that ended the first night of our search.

23 December 2013

We were on a two-day land tour around the South Coast and Jokulsarlon and the tour was to include aurora sightings. After dinner at the hotel, we asked if we would be heading out to search for lights and our guides told us we just needed to walk out of the hotel! We had forgotten that being away from the city, there was no need to travel away from lodging since the light pollution was already low.

Spent about an hour outside, no auroras, but again, beautiful stars.

The aurora forecast was still 2 (Low), with a forecast of 4 (Active) at 6 am 24 December. I woke up every hour just to peek out the window, but I didn't see nothing..

26 December 2013

Back in the city, and again, we went out with the buses.

Did I catch a shooting star?

Still no luck, so I thought I'd try to do star trails, but gave up after awhile. It was really too cold..

My feeble attempt at star trails

One last shot, and it was back to the buses.

30 December 2013

It was our last chance to try to catch the northern lights, tours were not running on New Year's Eve and in any case, we would wanna stay in the city to watch the fireworks before departing early morning on New Year's Day.

Aurora forecast was 1(Quiet) and cloud cover was expected to be really bad. We booked the tour, then decided not to go, then changed our mind and went anyway.

My plan was to stay in the bus and not freeze my butt off standing in the cold with such dismal chances. At about 8.30 pm, we got to our destination and got off the bus, the sky was so cloudy we couldn't even see the stars. Disappointed, we had a waffle in the cafe and then back to the bus. I slept through the entire wait, and at 12 am, the buses decided to abandon the wait and head back to the city.

Oh well, I had been prepared to be disappointed. And continued sleeping (I sound like a sloth.)

On the way back, at 12.30 am, the guide said that the other bus spotted the light and we were gonna try to stop. The hubby got off the bus first, we were all skeptical about the sighting. After a while, I got down too and set up the camera, waiting for the 30 seconds exposure, since we could hardly see anything in the sky.

When the shutter closed, we were surprised to see GREEN!

First shot of the auroras

Faintly in the sky, we saw a light, but it didn't look green. I snapped away anyway.

After about 10 minutes, even the faint light faded and we went on our way. Wide awake in the bus now, somewhat relieved that we saw a faint bit, though it wasn't anything to shout about.

45 minutes later, our guide said they spotted the light again! It was 1.30 am now and the guys who sat behind us complained that if he kept stopping, we would never get back to the city.

The bus stopped and the captain shouted, "Ten minutes!" This time, I leapt off the bus and started setting everything up.

The auroras were more visible now, we could see the tinge of green and everyone was pretty excited.
Few minutes later, we saw the light dance! At first, ever so slightly, then a little more! That lasted for just a few seconds but we were all cheering anyway, happy to have finally seen the lights, faint and fleeting as it was.

The snow was lit yellow-orange by the street lights just behind us. The buses had to stop quickly once they saw the light since we didn't know how long it would last.