WetSparks
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Well, as some of you may be aware Monday night I went on this In Search of the Northern Lights Flight. So I thought that rather than just posting a couple of pics Id give you a little run down on the event, just in case anyone here might be tempted.
First and foremost I should point out that the advertising IS misleading. Yes it is a flight in search of the Northern Lights and you have to accept the fact that if the conditions are not right you aint gonna see owt. Also we are approaching the bottom of an eleven year cycle for Solar Flare activity so its even less likely that the Aurora Borealis will be anything like as dramatic as pictures you may have seen of it. Also you really need to be into astronomy to appreciate this trip (Ooo dint we tell you that its really all about the stars in the sky). Yep, 3 hours of trying to peer out of a little flippin port hole to look at stars. Now for the first half hour its quite interesting, but for the next 2 ½ it gets a bit wearing.
After an hour or so lecture in a local hotel about, you guessed it, star formations; we then went to the terminal and eventually got on the plane, My Travel type Airbus thing. About 160 of us on a 180 seat plane.
Picture of the leaders.
Once off the ground a quick snack, fly over Scotland and the Shetland Islands and towards the bottom of the Artic Circle. By this time the plane had been blacked out, that is all lights except the toilet lights (not allowed to use them), floor light strips and the no smoking signs, although these were covered with tape to blank them out. We were also lucky cos the Mrs Captain and Norwegian air traffic control allowed us to have all the external nav lights turned of, Stealth Mode!
Already got the low down on taking pics from one of the astronomers with us, no flash (as if Im going to light up Saturn with me 580 ex) and turn off the pic preview cos the LCD will be too bright. Fitted the nifty and set it to manual focus at near infinity and at f1.8. Set the exposure for 20 seconds and iso to 1600 (thinks, this will be fun, not). At least with the lens hood on it I can hold it against the port hole (I just cant bring myself to call it a window!) and we should be fine, that is except for the dam plane moving. Well it gave me something to do rather than sit there twiddling me thumbs, oh and playing musical chairs.
Yes, because theres only one port hole and three seats, the plan was that every 10 minutes you rotate, so as to give every one a look. Thats fine but after the first star gazing session me mum (now 85) had had enough so decided to sit in the isle seat and have a little rest. That left me and my daughter to play musical chairs. Have you ever tried swapping seats on an aeroplane, in the dark, with someone as big as you, without disturbing the person in the outside seat. Its fine until half way through the contortion you get cramp in one of your legs. Oh well it gave the other passengers something to laugh about.
Ooo look some stars (ish)
The one thing that did intrigue me, from the couple of semi viable shots I got is the way that we see the stars as white, yet the camera sees them as reds, blues and oranges.
Suddenly the word goes out, theres the Aurora Borealis, cant see anything. Ahh but youre looking at it :nono: Dont look straight at it, use your peripheral vision. You mean Ive paid all this money and come all this way to see something out of the side of me eye
On the way back, just before we were to be blinded by the lights being turned back on the dam thing gave a little peak of visibility. This is a quick and exiting grab of that scene.
I know, absolutely enthralling isnt it :shake:
This is a picture as we were coming into land, just before 1 AM. The wind was bouncing us all over the place, but gives her, her dues, Mrs Captain pulled off a perfect landing
So in conclusion, if your interested in one of these flights, a) bone up on yer astronomy, it will come in handy, b) wait for 5 ½ year for the solar flares to peak.
First and foremost I should point out that the advertising IS misleading. Yes it is a flight in search of the Northern Lights and you have to accept the fact that if the conditions are not right you aint gonna see owt. Also we are approaching the bottom of an eleven year cycle for Solar Flare activity so its even less likely that the Aurora Borealis will be anything like as dramatic as pictures you may have seen of it. Also you really need to be into astronomy to appreciate this trip (Ooo dint we tell you that its really all about the stars in the sky). Yep, 3 hours of trying to peer out of a little flippin port hole to look at stars. Now for the first half hour its quite interesting, but for the next 2 ½ it gets a bit wearing.
After an hour or so lecture in a local hotel about, you guessed it, star formations; we then went to the terminal and eventually got on the plane, My Travel type Airbus thing. About 160 of us on a 180 seat plane.
Picture of the leaders.
Once off the ground a quick snack, fly over Scotland and the Shetland Islands and towards the bottom of the Artic Circle. By this time the plane had been blacked out, that is all lights except the toilet lights (not allowed to use them), floor light strips and the no smoking signs, although these were covered with tape to blank them out. We were also lucky cos the Mrs Captain and Norwegian air traffic control allowed us to have all the external nav lights turned of, Stealth Mode!
Already got the low down on taking pics from one of the astronomers with us, no flash (as if Im going to light up Saturn with me 580 ex) and turn off the pic preview cos the LCD will be too bright. Fitted the nifty and set it to manual focus at near infinity and at f1.8. Set the exposure for 20 seconds and iso to 1600 (thinks, this will be fun, not). At least with the lens hood on it I can hold it against the port hole (I just cant bring myself to call it a window!) and we should be fine, that is except for the dam plane moving. Well it gave me something to do rather than sit there twiddling me thumbs, oh and playing musical chairs.
Yes, because theres only one port hole and three seats, the plan was that every 10 minutes you rotate, so as to give every one a look. Thats fine but after the first star gazing session me mum (now 85) had had enough so decided to sit in the isle seat and have a little rest. That left me and my daughter to play musical chairs. Have you ever tried swapping seats on an aeroplane, in the dark, with someone as big as you, without disturbing the person in the outside seat. Its fine until half way through the contortion you get cramp in one of your legs. Oh well it gave the other passengers something to laugh about.
Ooo look some stars (ish)
The one thing that did intrigue me, from the couple of semi viable shots I got is the way that we see the stars as white, yet the camera sees them as reds, blues and oranges.
Suddenly the word goes out, theres the Aurora Borealis, cant see anything. Ahh but youre looking at it :nono: Dont look straight at it, use your peripheral vision. You mean Ive paid all this money and come all this way to see something out of the side of me eye
On the way back, just before we were to be blinded by the lights being turned back on the dam thing gave a little peak of visibility. This is a quick and exiting grab of that scene.
I know, absolutely enthralling isnt it :shake:
This is a picture as we were coming into land, just before 1 AM. The wind was bouncing us all over the place, but gives her, her dues, Mrs Captain pulled off a perfect landing
So in conclusion, if your interested in one of these flights, a) bone up on yer astronomy, it will come in handy, b) wait for 5 ½ year for the solar flares to peak.
I looked at doing one of these trip kind things, then realised that you didn't actually land, it was just a flight, so didn't bother. I think I'd rather save my money and go to Iceland (not the freezer shop either 
) to catch a glimpse of the real thing for myself.
