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The Northern Lights are collisions between electrically charged particles from the sun that enter the Earth's atmosphere and put on a beautiful celestial dance.

There are few places in the world better for seeing the Northern Lights than northern Norway. The globe has a Northern Lights halo that lies around the top of the planet and stretches like a shimmering band across the winter voyage of Havila Voyages.

Havila ship in Lofoten with the beautiful Northern Lights dancing in the night sky. You can see the best and strongest Northern Lights in late autumn and early spring. October, February and March are the best months for seeing the Northern Lights. But in clear weather and darkness, you can experience the Northern Lights on the entire voyage along the coast. Whether you are standing out on the deck and almost able to feel the crackling of the celestial forces, or you are snug and comfortable inside the observation lounge while watching the colourful display through the glass ceiling, this is an experience you will not forget.

What are the Northern Lights?
The Northern Lights start deep within the sun. Hydrogen nuclei fuse and release energy that takes hundreds of thousands of years to get further and further out. The energy leaves the sun as the light we see, but also as particles. This flow of particles is also called solar wind. Some of these particles in the solar wind manage to get into the earth's magnetic field and the earth's atmosphere and collide here with oxygen and nitrogen. These collisions release energy - which we see as the Northern Lights. The magnetic fields around the earth's poles make the Northern Lights occur in the polar regions. Therefore, you can also see the Northern Light's "twin", the Southern Lights, in the area around Antarctica. The composition and density of the atmosphere in addition to the altitude help to determine the colours of the Northern Lights. The strong green light occurs at altitudes of 120–180 kilometres and above. The Northern Lights that are at higher altitudes turn red while the blue and purple ones are usually below 120 kilometres.