• Get your Camino Frances Guidebook here.
  • For 2024 Pilgrims: €50,- donation = 1 year with no ads on the forum + 90% off any 2024 Guide. More here.
    (Discount code sent to you by Private Message after your donation)
  • ⚠️ Emergency contact in Spain - Dial 112 and AlertCops app. More on this here.

Search 69,459 Camino Questions

Northern lights!

Kobe

Member
Time of past OR future Camino
Camino Frances, September 2022
From my top bunk in Torres del Rio last night I looked out the window to see the Northern lights! My husband says they are predicted for the next week or so. He hasn’t seen them in Michigan yet. Imagine coming to Spain to see the Northern lights. Magical.
 
€2,-/day will present your project to thousands of visitors each day. All interested in the Camino de Santiago.
New Original Camino Gear Designed Especially with The Modern Peregrino In Mind!
€2,-/day will present your project to thousands of visitors each day. All interested in the Camino de Santiago.
:::chuckle::: I'm so jealous...but 2 points ;
1. There have been several "solar flares" (coronal mass ejections) over the past few weeks. When they tickle the Earth's magnetic fields, bingo, aurora.
2. Because I noticed the length of the summer days last year, I looked.
Latitude of Lugo....43N and change
Latitude of Santiago...42.87N

Latitude of Washington DC...38.9N
Latitude of NYC...40.71N

"South" is a bit relative ...;)
 
I'm so jealous now. I live much farther North in Europe and have never seen them although they are known to dance around where I live too.
 
€2,-/day will present your project to thousands of visitors each day. All interested in the Camino de Santiago.
Transport luggage-passengers.
From airports to SJPP
Luggage from SJPP to Roncevalles
Awesome that you got to see them!! No photos???? Bummer! To think that I live inMN and have traveled north to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area many times and never have been fortunate to see them! Now I'm planning on going to Iceland next month in hopes of having better luck:)
What a treat @Kobe, & you didn't even have to get up! Thanks for sharing that with us.
I hope your plan works out @Peregrina 2013. I've tried Iceland, Arctic Canada & Alaska with nil success.
I did however see them while onboard Hurtigruten in northern Norway which I'm forever thankful for.

I'm lucky enough to have 'bookends' having also seen the Aurora Australis or Southern Lights (no, not the ship for any Aussie readers!) in Antarctica.
They can be viewed occasionally here in Tassie & even southern parts of the mainland if conditions are right.
👣 🌏
 
As dbier says it's all relative. Here is an article from a couple of weeks ago stating that the Aurora Borealis could possibly viewed as far south in the state of Maryland.


Also:


N.B. @Kobe: I am jealous too.

Mark
 
The one time I saw them was in Canada, but not in the far north where I would have expected to see them. I was driving back from a business meeting on a major highway, came around a curve and was so surprised to see them that I almost drove off the road.
 
Ideal sleeping bag liner whether we want to add a thermal plus to our bag, or if we want to use it alone to sleep in shelters or hostels. Thanks to its mummy shape, it adapts perfectly to our body.

€46,-
As dbier says it's all relative. Here is an article from a couple of weeks ago stating that the Aurora Borealis could possibly viewed as far south in the state of Maryland.
And Maryland is in fact South of Northern Spain ...

As said, where I live at the Arctic Circle, Aurora was very strong in recent days. This is a simple phone shot taken last weekend over our cabin:
 

Attachments

  • IMG_9487.jpg
    IMG_9487.jpg
    1.9 MB · Views: 35
Photos don’t do justice. The lights shimmer and fade in and out. See that bright spot? There was no moon visible at the time!
 

Attachments

  • 1266FAA9-EB7C-40D6-A48A-C01ECB70F087.jpeg
    1266FAA9-EB7C-40D6-A48A-C01ECB70F087.jpeg
    1.2 MB · Views: 25
  • DDA383E8-FFB4-46B3-A00B-CE355E72F6DB.jpeg
    DDA383E8-FFB4-46B3-A00B-CE355E72F6DB.jpeg
    901.1 KB · Views: 20
  • B300A1AE-691E-45D2-A103-4E3B4E21B3E6.jpeg
    B300A1AE-691E-45D2-A103-4E3B4E21B3E6.jpeg
    1.6 MB · Views: 23
  • E0A3CF55-287A-4D8B-B9A6-EF833B556B31.jpeg
    E0A3CF55-287A-4D8B-B9A6-EF833B556B31.jpeg
    2 MB · Views: 25
Awesome that you got to see them!! No photos???? Bummer! To think that I live inMN and have traveled north to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area many times and never have been fortunate to see them! Now I'm planning on going to Iceland next month in hopes of having better luck:)
Sorry to post photos just now. Still getting my bearings on the Camino.
 
Join our full-service guided tour and let us convert you into a Pampered Pilgrim!
Awesome that you got to see them!! No photos???? Bummer! To think that I live inMN and have traveled north to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area many times and never have been fortunate to see them! Now I'm planning on going to Iceland next month in hopes of having better luck:)
You will have good luck in Iceland. You may have to set your alarm for the middle of the night, however!
What a treat @Kobe, & you didn't even have to get up! Thanks for sharing that with us.
I hope your plan works out @Peregrina 2013. I've tried Iceland, Arctic Canada & Alaska with nil success.
I did however see them while onboard Hurtigruten in northern Norway which I'm forever thankful for.

I'm lucky enough to have 'bookends' having also seen the Aurora Australis or Southern Lights (no, not the ship for any Aussie readers!) in Antarctica.
They can be viewed occasionally here in Tassie & even southern parts of the mainland if conditions are right.
👣 🌏
Haha! I was texting my husband at the time wingeing about being 65yo and being in the nosebleed bunk. Once I looked out the window I realized that it all was worth it!
 
You will have good luck in Iceland. You may have to set your alarm for the middle of the night, however!

Haha! I was texting my husband at the time wingeing about being 65yo and being in the nosebleed bunk. Once I looked out the window I realized that it all was worth it!
Thank you Kobe! I've been waiting for years to do this, and whenever we went up north - here in MN, I always made it a point to get up in the middle of the night and walk outside to see if I'd ever be so lucky, but I was rewarded mostly with a beautiful starry night:) So excited about Iceland! I'll post pictures if we are fortunate to see them!
 
What a treat @Kobe, & you didn't even have to get up! Thanks for sharing that with us.
I hope your plan works out @Peregrina 2013. I've tried Iceland, Arctic Canada & Alaska with nil success.
I did however see them while onboard Hurtigruten in northern Norway which I'm forever thankful for.

I'm lucky enough to have 'bookends' having also seen the Aurora Australis or Southern Lights (no, not the ship for any Aussie readers!) in Antarctica.
They can be viewed occasionally here in Tassie & even southern parts of the mainland if conditions are right.
👣 🌏
Well, hopefully next month I'll fulfill that lifetime dream! But if Iceland doesn't work I might have to go to Hurtigruten;-) I will hunt them down for the rest of my life until I see them 😂
Lucky you to have seen both the Borealis and the Australis! We were in Patagonia in 2014 and 2017 and went to Ushuaia - so close to Antarctica, and saw and learned so much, but no southern lights:-(
 
Down bag (90/10 duvet) of 700 fills with 180 g (6.34 ounces) of filling. Mummy-shaped structure, ideal when you are looking for lightness with great heating performance.

€149,-
What a treat @Kobe, & you didn't even have to get up! Thanks for sharing that with us.
I hope your plan works out @Peregrina 2013. I've tried Iceland, Arctic Canada & Alaska with nil success.
I did however see them while onboard Hurtigruten in northern Norway which I'm forever thankful for.

I'm lucky enough to have 'bookends' having also seen the Aurora Australis or Southern Lights (no, not the ship for any Aussie readers!) in Antarctica.
They can be viewed occasionally here in Tassie & even southern parts of the mainland if conditions are right.
👣 🌏
What station were you at? I have seen them a bunch at McMurdo over the years.
 
What station were you at? I have seen them a bunch at McMurdo over the years.
I can imagine the stories you could tell!
I wasn't stationed..unfortunately. I was on a Russian icebreaker (working vessel, not a cruise ship) in the Ross Sea back in 1998. I did visit US McMurdo, NZ Scott Base & Italy's Terra Nova Bay along with a few others.
I consider myself lucky seeing the Aurora as it was high summer with 24 hours of daylight.
👣 🌏
 
What a treat @Kobe, & you didn't even have to get up! Thanks for sharing that with us.
I hope your plan works out @Peregrina 2013. I've tried Iceland, Arctic Canada & Alaska with nil success.
I did however see them while onboard Hurtigruten in northern Norway which I'm forever thankful for.

I'm lucky enough to have 'bookends' having also seen the Aurora Australis or Southern Lights (no, not the ship for any Aussie readers!) in Antarctica.
They can be viewed occasionally here in Tassie & even southern parts of the mainland if conditions are right.
👣 🌏
I saw the Aurora Australis from the back yard of the house I was renting in Old Road, Franklin, Tasmania. Can't remember the year exactly, but it would have been between August 2004 and March 2006.
 
The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.
I live in northern Illinois and when we first moved in our new home outside the city (gosh, has it been 18 years aleady?) we were lounging on our deck marveling at the stars. Lo and behold the Northern lights appeared; dancing and shimmering for about 15+ minutes. It was so awesome, but I've never seen them since.
I'm enjoying reading this thread of a different kind.🙂

P.S. Shooting stars are always a treat, too, and a few weeks ago I saw Starlink march by for nearly a minute exactly like this photo. (Not my pic.) It was amazing!
Screenshot_20220914-045527~2.png
 
Last edited:

Most read last week in this forum

My name is Henrik and I will be coming down to SJPdP from Sweden on March 26 and start walking on March 27. I don't really have any experience and I'm not the best at planning and I'm a little...
When I hiked the Frances Route this happened. I was hiking in the afternoon just east of Arzua. I was reserved a bed at an albergue in Arzua, so I had already hiked all the way from San Xulien...
I'd like some recommendations about where to find the most current and up to date information about albergues that are actually open. I'm currently walking the camino Frances, and I can't even...
I am finalizing my packing list for Frances, and do not want to over pack. (I am 71) I will be starting at SJPdP on April 25th to Roncesvalles and forward. I was hoping on some advise as to...
First marker starting from Albergue Monasterio de la Magdalena in Sarria (113.460 km) Start: 2023.9.29 07:22 Arrival: 2023.9.30 13:18 walking time : 26 hours 47 minutes rest time : 3 hours 8...
A local Navarra website has posted a set of photos showing today's snowfall in the area around Roncesvalles. About 15cm of snow fell this morning surprising pilgrims on the way...

❓How to ask a question

How to post a new question on the Camino Forum.

Similar threads

Forum Rules

Forum Rules

Camino Updates on YouTube

Camino Conversations

Most downloaded Resources

This site is run by Ivar at

in Santiago de Compostela.
This site participates in the Amazon Affiliate program, designed to provide a means for Ivar to earn fees by linking to Amazon
Official Camino Passport (Credential) | 2024 Camino Guides
Back
Top