Skro­va, the Polar Light Cent­re in Lauk­vik and Svol­vær – 05th Novem­ber 2015

Thu
5 Nov
2015

Today was the day! We star­ted by hiking over the island of Skro­va in the most beau­tiful wea­ther, many went up on top of Skro­vaf­jel­let, 285 m abo­ve Ves­t­fjord, with a view that is just gre­at.

The same appli­ed to the pas­sa­ge into the port of Svol­vær in the ear­ly after­noon. Sun­set at 3 p.m. Liquid gold over boats, hou­ses and moun­ta­ins.

The Nor­t­hern Light Cent­re in Lauk­vik on the nor­t­hern side of the island Aus­t­vå­gøy (which has Svol­vær on the sou­thern side) was next on our plan. Rob and The­re­se from the Net­her­lands have cho­sen this love­ly, silent spot for their own pri­va­te nor­t­hern light insti­tu­te, with litt­le light pol­lu­ti­on and a free view to all direc­tions, espe­ci­al­ly to the north. Their pas­si­on for the auro­ra pola­ris (a coll­ec­ti­ve term for the polar light in north and south, does that term actual­ly exist or have I just made it up? I don’t know) is impres­si­ve, and so is Rob’s coll­ec­tion of tech­ni­cal instru­ments, which he is using con­stant­ly to make „direct cont­act with the sun“, as he puts it. And inde­ed, his short mes­sa­ge info ser­vice has been very useful over the last cou­ple of days, kee­ping us updated about solar and magne­tic acti­vi­ty and our chan­ces to see nor­t­hern lights.

Inde­ed, Rob’s con­nec­tion to the sun is good and direct enough to prompt a nor­t­hern light the­re and then. But may­be he has for­got­ten to pass the mes­sa­ge on also to the wea­ther God, who is prompt­ly pushing some clouds bet­ween us and the bel­oved auro­ra. But a bit later, during the bus back to Svol­vær, we get a sple­ndid nor­t­hern light show abo­ve nice moun­tain rid­ges; I guess more than one was thin­king about hijack­ing the bus, stop­ping instant­ly and jum­ping out onto the road with came­ra and tri­pod.

Gal­lery Skro­va

Click on thumb­nail to open an enlar­ged ver­si­on of the spe­ci­fic pho­to.

But that was inde­ed not neces­sa­ry. Later that night, we got an impres­si­ve and beau­tiful dis­play of the nor­t­hern light which could be per­fect­ly seen from Svol­vær.

By the way, for tho­se inte­res­ted in the mat­ter, have a look at the­se links to sites within my web­site:

• Nor­t­hern light – direct­ly dedi­ca­ted to the sub­ject, with back­ground and pho­to tips
• Mid­night sun and polar light – obvious­ly clo­se­ly con­nec­ted
• Polar night, polar day – the con­ti­nua­tion of „Mid­night sun and polar light“

And of cour­se you should visit the Polar Light Cent­re in Lauk­vik on the inter­net or – much bet­ter – in real life, in Lauk­vik.

All in all: the day today was our day, it was important and gre­at! ☺

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