Our February/March 2020 cruise on the Viking Star was a fantastic trip. In addition to meeting some great people and enjoying the stunning scenery, we also achieved our primary goal, which was to experience the Northern Lights.

Of course, we returned to a world changed by the COVID-19 lockdown, but I didn’t let that prevent me from sharing our experiences with the Greensboro Astronomy Club via Zoom on Friday, April 20. I recorded the presentation and am happy to provide the link to the video below.

My talk opens with a brief discussion of the Northern Lights in history and our attempts to understand what causes them. The primary purpose, though, was to answer the question that I took with me to Norway: What does it really look like to be under the Northern Lights? Hopefully, this presentation will answer that question, as it includes more than 100 images that I captured with my iPhone in Night Mode over several night’s worth of viewing opportunities.

I hope you enjoy this first-hand account, with comments from my wife Jane and two friends we met on the trip, Sheila Papayans and Ron Frizz.