The Struggle to See the Aurora for the First Time
[svensk text längst ner]
Have the Northern Lights turned their back on Elise from France?
Disappointment. That's a part of the package when you aim to see the Northern Lights.
Let me tell you about Elise and the struggle she went through to see the aurora for the first time. She is a French volunteer who came to Finland, to Nykarleby where I live, in January. She will stay here until the end of June.
She has never seen the Northern Lights and I have promised to do what I can to change that. I want to take her on a successful aurora safari.
She actually spent a few days in Lapland, in Rovaniemi, but it was too cloudy to see the aurora. It only glimpsed behind the cloud cover
Since then I have taken her out in the darkness twice without any result at all. The third time we could see the aurora behind the clouds. That doesn't really count.
Our first attempt was when all the forecasts talked about a particle cloud hitting earth. It was predicted to happen on a Saturday and I didn't want Elise to miss the opportunity. We went to a really dark place where we stayed for a couple of hours until the clouds drew its cover over us. But it was alright. We walked on the ice. Watched the stars and had a picnic in the car. She liked the mini adventure.
The next night that particle cloud hit us and I took her out in the darkness to see what would happen. Nothing happened. Maybe it did later on, but we did not wait that long. However, we took a walk on the shiny ice as the moon rose above the treetops. It was beautiful.
The temptation to walk on the moon's reflection became too strong. We had to do it. There is a wonderful Swedish word for the reflection – mångata – which means moon street. Unfortunately (because it's so beautiful) the expression is not used in English language.
A few days after that the forecast looked good again, but I decided not to pick her up unless I actually saw something on the sky. And I didn't, so no safari that night.
A week later, on April 3, I gave my daughter a ride to the local train station and headed back at around midnight. I had already decided to stop and take some night sky photos and test a technique that I wanted to try. Then, all of a sudden, the aurora appeared and started dancing before my eyes. It was 0:20 am and I hesitated for a few minutes before I sent a message to Elise.
"The Northern Lights are visible RIGHT NOW!" She responded immediately and I went to pick her up.
25 minutes later we stepped out of the car only to see that clouds covered the entire sky. What a disappointment! But the Northern Lights were active and we could see the green light through the clouds.
We decided to wait and see if there were any holes in that cloud cover. I took some photos of the sky, some of them with Elise in the foreground. At least she has some sort of "evidence" that she has (almost) seen the aurora borealis.
I asked her: "Does it feel like you have now seen the Northern Lights?" I hoped she would say "no". Which she did! My following question was: "Do you still want me to send you messages when there's a chance of seeing them?" I hoped she hadn't given up. The northern lights season will end in 3 weeks. There are still chances for her to see this phenomenon. "Yes", she answered. "I'm still hopeful."
That's the spirit, Elise. Let's not give up. Let's keep trying until you get this unique experience. And if you do, you should know that there are thousands, if not millions, that would pay a lot of money to get that same experience.
To be continued ...
EDIT: Unfortunately she never came closer to seeing the aurora than this. Please click the button to read about Talia, who was lucky enough to see an amazing aurora on her short visit to Finland.
PÅ SVENSKA:
Vi kämpar och ger inte upp!
Låt mig berätta historien om Elise och hennes väg till att få se ett riktigt norrsken med egna ögon för första gången.
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Elise kom som volontär till Nykarleby i januari och håller redan på att beta av den andra årstiden i Finland. Hon kom på min norrskensföreläsning som Arbis arrangerade den 14 mars och strax därefter spenderade hon några dagar i Rovaniemi. Mulna dagar.
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Jag har lovat henne att ta henne på norrskenssafari och i dagsläget har vi varit ut i mörkret tre gånger. Hon har fortfarande inte sett norrskenet. Åtminstone inte riktigt helt.
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De två första gångerna var för snart två veckor sedan, när alla prognoser förutspådde goda chanser eftersom solen slängt ut en rejäl dos material ut i rymden. Den kväll när vi trodde att det skulle träffa oss och generera lite grön magi på natthimlen så hände inget alls. Alla experter sa nu att partikelmolnet missat jorden. Men dagen därpå träffade det oss. Jag tog med henne ut i mörkret igen, men tyvärr orkade det inte skapa något norrsken så länge vi var ute. Kanske senare mot morgonnatten, möjligen. Men vi valde att inte vänta. Däremot hann vi med en promenad på den skinande blanka isen medan månen steg över horisonten och skapade den vackraste mångata man kan föreställa sig.
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Några dagar senare varslade jag henne igen eftersom prognoserna återigen pekade uppåt. Men innan mörkret föll (och det är ju bara då man kan se norrsken) så gick alla värden ned och jag avblåste vår planerade utflykt.
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Igår, onsdagen den 3 april, var jag på väg från tågstationen i Bennäs strax efter midnatt. Jag hade planerat att stanna och ta lite bilder på stjärnhimlen och räknade inte med att något norrsken skulle dyka upp. Men det gjorde det. Plötsligt började det dansa på himlen. Jag stod i leran på Kovjoki-åkrarna och övervägde om jag skulle kontakta Elise eller inte. Klockan var 25 minuter över midnatt. När norrskenet dansat i några minuter sände jag meddelande till henne. ”The Northern Lights are visible RIGHT NOW!”, skrev jag. Vi bestämde att jag skulle plocka upp henne.
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15 minuter senare satte hon sig i min bil och vi körde ut till Andra sjön. När vi steg ut var det helt mulet. Hur kunde det hända? Det var ju stjärnklart i Kovjoki för 25 minuter sedan! Men norrskenet syntes genom molnen. Vi spenderade en halvtimme i blåsten ute på hamnpiren och tog lite foton och inväntade nån lucka i molntäcket. Till sist var vi tvungna att inse att det inte blir bättre än så här. Åtminstone inte i natt.
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Jag frågade henne om hon fortfarande vill att jag meddelar henne när chanserna finns att se norrsken. Ja, det vill hon. ”Jag är fortfarande hoppfull”, svarade hon. Rätt svar, Elise!
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Säsongen tar slut om ca 3 veckor, men jag hoppas innerligt att hon ännu hinner se ett norrsken dansa på en stjärnklar himmel. Den upplevelsen unnar jag varje utländsk besökare i vår nejd som är här under pågående säsong (från mitten på augusti till slutet av april).
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Fortsättning följer. HOPPAS JAG!