One of the NCI cards for Christmas 2022 featured a photo of the Northern Lights as seen from Anglesey in North Wales. At those latitudes the aurora sometimes appears as a glow on the northern horizon and often needs a long exposure photo to allow the aurora to be seen.
Recently NCI Calshot Tower and NCI Stone Point Watchkeeper Mike Jacobs voyaged north for a much more spectacular view!….
“We sailed from Southampton on the P&O Aurora on the 15th of November 2023 visiting Tromsø on our way to Alta in Norway. We saw some Northern Lights in Tromsø on the 19th through to the early hours of the 20th and declared our trip a success… Little did we know this would turn out to be the trip of a lifetime.
“On the 21st we saw Killer Whales and Humpback Whales in the very early morning as we approached Alta. We spent the day in the town returning to Aurora at 16:30 and, yes, we could already see the Northern Lights off her stern as we approached. They were building into the fantastic light show that lasted in waves from 16:30 till 01:45 on the 22nd.
[click on thumbnails to enlarge]
“All of our photos and videos shown here were taken from the top deck of Aurora berthed alongside Alta airport. Despite all the light pollution from both ship and airport, my question is… could it have been any better?”
Our thanks to Mike and Julie for the photos and video!
NCI Calshot Tower & NCI Stone Point Blog 
When the aurora is shown on TV it is invariably speeded up. Mike and Julie’s video captures the fantastic, ethereal experience of seeing the northern lights as they actually happen… make sure you watch until the end of the video (3 mins.)