Iceland - Northern lights

[oracer]

 

 

 

We are thinking about taking a cruise from London to Iceland next August (second week in August). We will be in Iceland four days.  I see in google that the best time to see the northern lights is September to April. The days are like 16 hours of Sunlight, any chance in August to see the lights?

[Nitemare]

Yes, but only REALLY late at night.  We've been in Iceland for 5 days in March and 7 in September and had zero sightings.  Either cloudy (or rain) or just no activity those nights.

 

And you have to go by Nautical Sunset (I think that's the name). The time when the sky is DARK, not just when the sun sets.  We went stargazing in New Mexico last month and got to our dark spot right after sunset.  And then waited an hour for dark enough skies to see things, like the milky way and satellites, etc.

 

Lights are a bonus.  Have stuff to keep you busy in the daytime and hope for lights as an extra

[hallasm]

It may be possible in August, albeit a little early.  Next year solar activity will peak (11 year cycle) so there will be greater intensity and therefore possible to see the northern lights despite it not being dark.  
There are northern lights all year round, but it requires a dark and clear sky - therefore the best opportunities from September to March.  

There have been visible northern lights this year in August.

[oracer]

Do you see it from the cruise boat say in the middle of the night?  Or do you have to be on land.   I am aware of now another cruise in Late September that might be better.  The cruise goes over ports during the day and between ports at night. With artificial lights from the cruise ship make it harder. To see?

[ljandgb]

Yes the ship lights will make it harder.  You do not need to be on land to see the NL's. Land based tours, where the local guides communicate on which areas have less cloud cover, have better chances in general than a ship with a set location.  It is harder to photograph NL's when on a ship, as timed exposures are best and the ship movement interferes with that.  The later in the year you go, the better due to longer true dark night,  to increase your chance of seeing them.  At best, your chances are slim in August or September anyways because the dark sky window is just shorter and it's random chance anyways.

 

Definitely go with managed expectations and enjoy the cruise for what it is.

[hallasm]

You can definitely see the northern lights from the ship - but be prepared for it to be very cold staying outdoors at night on the open sea.  
More difficult to photograph the northern lights from a ship.  I myself have seen most of the northern lights from a ship.  Examples in my video

 

 

[Nitemare]

We coaxed the Navigator on a South American cruise to offer an astronomy course one night, and he got the uppermost ship lights turned off so we could do some stargazing, as most of us were unfamiliar with the southern skies.  Maybe you can get your ship to turn off the lights to help in Lights hunting?

[wineoclock]

We saw the NL on a land trip to Lapland when the kids were little. We were there for 4 or 5 nights & only saw them & shooting stars on one night. Spectacular. I hope you get to see them. 

[Giantfan13]

We were just on an Artic crossing, via Iceland and Greenland and we were able to view the Northen Lights on 4 separate nights. As was said, you need a basically clear night and to our advantage, we were on the RCCL Voyager, which allowed people to go as far forward as possible, up onto the heliport where it is almost completely without most glaring lights. We were easily able to view the Milky Way. Mars and, as I said, the Northern Lights. We did the majority of our viewing from about 11:30-about 1 AM when the sky had become completely black. We did a B2B and we were on the ship for 21 days, but many nights were foggy, cloudy and a couple it was so windy, it was impossible to stay out in that area, but again, we did have the persistence to try when we could, and we were rewarded for that effort. Some nights were much better than others, but we did manage 4 views of the Northern Lights. 

 

Cheers

Len

[wineoclock]

It’s a spectacular experience- lucky you.