Chasing the Northern Lights, by Elizabeth Kay

Tromso, 24th January, 2026

Cloud iridescence

The Northern Lights have featured in many children's books, especially Philip Pullman's Dark Materials trilogy. I have been fascinated by natural phenomena in the sky, from rainbows to cloud iridescence, which I was fortunate enough to see in Costa Rica. We were white water rafting, so I didn't have my camera with me and had to rely on the cameraman provided by the company. His photo doesn't do it justice, but it does give you some idea of the living rainbow that undulated around a cauliflower-shaped cloud.
     As a child, after reading about Ernest Shackleton and looking at drawings of the Antarctic sky, the thought of ever seeing the aurora was an impossible dream. It's only the arrival of cell phones that has made them so accessible, as anyone can record them when, as this year, there has been unusual solar activity and they have been seen a lot further south. Needless to say, I missed every occurrence as living close to London I'm in the wrong place, and there is too much light pollution. There were some great photos. The further south they occur, the more red you see.

Blood moon

I did manage to see the blood moon, though. I had made many attempts to see the aurora in the past. The first time was in Iceland, in 2004. Nothing. Then Tromso, in Norway, in 2005. We spent a week there, and by the last night had given up, so we went out to eat. As we came out of the restaurant my husband said, "Whassat?" pointing upwards. They only lasted 20 minutes, and were very faint, but we'd seen them. In succeeding years we tried Finland, Greenland and Svalbard (but it was ther wrong time of year on that occasion, because you can't get to Svalbard in the winter). So we thought we'd give it one last go, before arthritis rendered it totaly impossible, and booked just a weekend in Tromso – without much expectation, to be honest. Before dinner we decided to go prospecting for The Magic Ice Bar (brilliant!) but saw people standing around the quay looking out over the water. There could only be one reason. Bingo!

       We stood and watched for probably half an hour. It really is magical, they way they appear and disappear in an effortless sort of way, changing shape with such subtelty that you can't pinpoint exactly what's happening. The followiung night we went on what really was called the Northern Lights Chase, where you race around in a minibus, going to wherever they've been reported. We did see them the second time, though not as clearly, but we also learned a lot about them. Apparently the wonderful red displays that we've seen on the news is when they appear further south. We were lucky to get the purple fringe, and an occasional faint touch of yellow, sometimes verging on orange.

     The following evening we did a minibus trip firther east, almost all the way to Finland, and got a second sighting, although not as good at the first. But the campfire, the toasted marshmallows and the hot chocolate made it a memorable adventure. I don't feel I've had a proper winter unless I encounter snow somewhere, so last year it was Finland (-34.5⁰), Poland in 2022 and Greenland in 2021. Once you've got the gear the cold idsn't a problem - except in Finland, when we went looking for the Northern Lights by horse-drawn sled on the coldest night of the year. That time I wasn't shivering with cold, I was shaking. 

I remember reading a piece in a children's annual, when I was six or seven. It was called 'When you are ill in bed', which could be very boring in the 1950s. No TV, let alone any internet, and children were usually put to bed with a cold or flu because there wasn't any central heating. The book suggested just looking out of the window at the clouds, and imagining them as fantastical landscapes. I never looked at the sky the same way again, and sunsets can still thrill me with the variety of their colours.

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