THE northern lights, or, aurora borealis, are among the most famed and sought-after displays in the world.
Being an entirely natural phenomenon, there isn’t any guarantee that, even if you go to somewhere that is known for showing the northern lights, you will see them.
Yet, people pay thousands of pounds to travel north and try to catch a glimpse of the dazzling ribbons of light as they ripple across the night sky.
As it happens, during May of this year, Saddleworth was perfectly positioned to get a great view of this spectacle.
Given the specific conditions required for the aurora borealis to appear, as detailed by Space.com, and that the UK isn’t exactly known as a hotspot for the light show, being able to see it from here was quite an incredible event.
Luckily, we live in a time that, even if you missed it, you can still see how Saddleworth experienced the northern lights.
The view from Saddleworth
In Saddleworth, the northern lights took on a superb array of colours. When you conjure up images of the aurora borealis, beams of green dancing across a dark blue sky are generally the go-to, but in May 2024, Saddleworth was treated to something quite different. The night sky was a deep purple, and from there, a pink strike ran through, beaming out glows of red, purple, yellow, and green.
The images collected by BBC UK from across the UK showcased these lights from Saddleworth. Of course, it wasn’t just the northern regions of England that got treated to the aurora borealis. Geomagnetic storms triggered the northern lights across Europe and North America. As well as this, New Zealand was treated to the southern hemisphere’s equivalent – the aptly named southern lights.
Getting more of the northern lights
Whether you got to see the natural light show or missed out this time, there are plenty of ways to immerse yourself back into the incredible spectacle. Naturally seeing an uptick in players recently from this country, Northern Sky from Quickspin surged back up the charts. Found at the top trending casino with a no-wagering bonus at BonusFinder UK, the game runs the northern lights as its backdrop, setting an ethereal theme while you connect the animals that roam beneath the aurora borealis in northern Europe.
Another fun take on the northern lights comes in His Dark Materials. The book series is beloved and the BBC-HBO TV series did a grand job of bringing it to screen. In these stories, you can see the city in the sky through the aurora borealis. Along with trying to get a peep at this city, Cittàgazze, you can see the northern lights decorate the skies in The Last King (2016), The 12th Man (2017), and, naturally, in the 2016 award-winning Northern Lights.
Of course, if you now have the desire to chase down the northern lights around the world, the best places to try to see them are superb in their own right. In Norway, Tromsø has become famous as a hotspot for seeing the aurora borealis, as has Rovaniemi in Finland and even the Shetland Islands off to the north of Scotland.
Hopefully, May 2024 will go down as one of many occasions over the coming years when Saddleworth gets to experience the northern lights so clearly, but if not, there are plenty of other ways to find them!
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