The following is an extract from "The Northern Lights" describing Professor Birkeland's first glimpse of the extraordinary Aurora Borealis during his expedition north of the Arctic Circle. "Then another bolt of the green-white light stretched out beside the first and both arced together. Increasingly wildly the strings were plucked and the shapes changed to the music - now curling, now forming great circles, then breaking again to roll away to join another arc of green-white light. No one spoke. The hairs on the backs of their necks stood up, as if awoken by static electricity.

Birkeland understood for the first time why the Lights had defied neat explanation: they appeared not to belong to Earth but to space. Seemingly beyond human comprehension, they reached straight into the souls of those who witnessed them as an appearance of the angelic host or the Holy Spirit might do.

The glowing banners in the sky were so entrancing that the group forgot the cold and remained outside, entering the hut occasionally to eat or drink but re-emerging to watch the breathtaking display dancing over their heads. Only Hortta did not look. He took the reins and bells off his animals and went into the hut without an upward glance..."

Where to see the lights - When to see the lights

The Tromso Observatory Helped with the research for The Northern Lights - for more information on the Aurora Borealis please go to the links page.