NOrthern lights
An experience like none other
September to april
Being located away from city lights, Northern Light Inn is a great spot to enjoy the northern lights. You only need to step outside to our parking lot to get the amazing experience. We will do our best to notify you or wake you up, if the lights appear after midnight.
Iceland’s aurora season is from the end of August until the first week of April. Auroras dance all year, but Arctic nights are too light from mid April to mid August.
Frequently asked questions
-
Only when it’s dark enough to see the stars … and space weather conditions are right.
Iceland’s aurora season is from the end of August until the first week of April.
Auroras dance all year, but Arctic nights are too light from mid April to mid August.
And very frequently during the weeks before or after the equinoxes.
Scientists are not sure why, but maybe because of cracks in the magnetosphere called the "Russell-McPherron effect".
-
Auroras can frequently be seen after dinner, usually between 19~24.
They are unpredictable and may come earlier, or later.
We monitor the situation carefully, looking at local weather forecasts and follow US military satellite data, updated hourly online.
And you can sign up at the front desk for an aurora call to your room.
-
Just step outside the hotel!
Often they rise from the north, expand overhead, flowing from east to west.
The hotel is directly below the aurora annulus, the ring of energy that creates the lights, so even when forecasts might be weak, we have strong chances of seeing them.
-
Northern Light Inn fortunately lies under a micro-climate blue hole in the weather created by prevailing winds blowing around the mountain south of us, Thornbjorn. This frequently creates an opening in the clouds right above the hotel and the surrounding area, large enough to see stars and the aurora borealis fill the sky, when elsewhere in Iceland it might be cloudy.
-
Solar winds collide with earth’s magnetosphere, creating light.
Aurora science has just begun:
-
The best short term forecast is here @
The Icelandic Meteorological Office.
It’s the only aurora forecast site that shows local cloud coverage.
For technical aurora forecasts click this.
-
Good news!
The solar magnetic activity cycle is about 11 years — we have passed its minimum, so will continue to get better for years.
The sun rotates circa every 27 earth days. Because it’s fluid, it’s variable: 24 days at the equator, 38 days at the poles, averaging 27 ~ 28 days.
Trying to scheduling aurora viewing with your trip to Iceland?
If auroras are nice today, then chances are very good that auroras will dance again in circa 4 weeks.
-
Good question, read more about the chances here.
-
Cameras and smart phones keep getting better: use whatever you have in hand.
Brace yourself to steady your camera, or use a tripod.
Forgot yours? Please ask reception for a guest’s tripod
BE READY. Be ready, be ready….
Great aurora moments are frequently very FAST.
-
The latest top-of-the-line smartphones, especially the iPhone Pros, can — even hand held!
Many of the photos in the aurora slide show on the home page were shot with i-phone.
The photo below of auroras over Hallgrimskirkja in Reykjavik was shot with one hand as my dog tugged the other — really! What more can you expect from a camera pretending to be a phone?
-
Yes, there are many aurora and forecast and specific photo apps.
They are ok, but do not rely on them — they are guesstimate algorithms.
We try them all: for forecasts, the free links here and above on this page are the most reliable because the understand in local weather conditions best.
Forecasting Apps are repackaging the same aurora data from NOAA.
Please note that the Ovation Aurora model all the apps use has a a color index that can be misleading: GREEN does NOT indicate a high probability of seeing auroras, RED DOES.
-
Read here.
