9-Sept-24 Labrador Sea
2330hrs last night. Finishing off yesterday’s blog. In bed. With Jamesons. Hear the faint ding dong of the PA announcement down the corridor. Hit the in room PA button. To hear something I’ve been longing to see for 40 years.
Aurora visible.
Quite faint but might improve.
Fair enough. Polar gear on over jim jams again. Thinking it will be a quick five minutes.
An hour and a half and 124 photos later…
WOW!!!
But first. Nearly another casualty. When I slip on the icy deck. Crikey. Surprisingly icy.
With the naked eye you can see nothing.
The only way to see it is taking a photo on your mobile phone. Your eyes can’t register it.
That’s when Joseph’s Technicolor Dreamcoat becomes apparent.
Very faint colours.
But then.
It just gets better. And better. And better.
Brighter and brighter until you can see the massive expanse of the aurora stretching from horizon to horizon. In a monochromatic swish of a brush across the sky.
To the naked eye it just looks like a white cloud. But in a peculiar shape.
Utterly mesmerising.
My other lady friend, we’ll call her Miss Sidmouth. Bit younger than Miss Hannover. But not much. Joins me on deck.
And spend the night together. Oohing. Aahing. Groaning. As we lean back trying to take a photo directly above us.
Magical moment.
This. Is. What. Memories. Are. Made. Of.
This. Is. Why. I. Work.
Starts with purple hues. Di-nitrogen below 100km altitude.
Then morphs into strong and bright greens between 100k and 200km altitude. Reds are also oxygen but above 200km.
Aurora created by a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME), or plasma, shooting out from the sun. Hits earth’s atmosphere and because of the earth’s magnetic shield is diverted around the magnetic shield until it hits the poles where the shield flows down into the polar regions.
Which is why you generally see aurora in polar regions.
An absolutely majestic display of nature.
What better way to experience the aurora in all its glory.
In the middle of the Labrador Sea.
Zero light pollution.
Towards the end of the most amazing voyage through the North West Passage.
I know I am lucky in life.
One of life’s great memories.
(photos taken on a Samsung Galaxy S23 with 4 second exposure on a moving ship…handheld no tripod)
4 responses to “NWP 26. Aurora Borealis – WOW!”
Wow. Saw them in Iceland but not nearly so many colours. Fab photos and an amazing memory x
What a fantastic sight,something that will remain with you for many years to come.
Fantastic, all that oozing and aaaring on deck sounds a bit like bow of the Titanic. You lucky chap.
Wow, wow, and wow, a-maze-ing! What an awesome experience, and to see it first hand, fantastic. You will have such amazing memories from this trip. Great photos!