REFLEKTOR / SPOTLIGHT
HEAVENLY SPECTACLE Green fire in the freezing night Located right where the aurora borealis is at its most significant, Tromsø is a natural observatory to enjoy the planet’s most spectacular natural visual theatre I n the collective imagination, the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) represent pure magic. In Tromsø, this means physics that’s as beau- tiful as poetry. The phenomenon itself occurs when charged solar wind parti- cles, captured by the Earth‘s magnetic field, collide with oxygen and nitrogen atoms in the upper layers of the atmosphere. The result is a heavenly conflagration. From September to mid-April, Tromsø is undis- putedly the world’s best urban base to ex- perience this phenomenon. The reason is pure geography: the city lies directly un- der the auroral oval, the magnetic zone around the North Pole, where these erup- tions of lights are at their most intense. Although the aurora can often be ob- served above the city‘s rooftops, to the delight of visitors, experiencing the real spectacle requires that you move out of the city’s light pollution zone. You will only enjoy the full spectacle in the dar- kness of the snowy valleys of Kvaløya Island or on the rugged slopes of the Lyngen Alps. When the Arctic skies cle- ar and solar activity increases, the blac- kness of the night suddenly breaks under curtains of fluorescent green and some- times deep purple light. This light pul- ses, spreads and dances at a speed that visually defies gravity, accompanied by the absolute and profound silence of this snowy wasteland. Theatre of the Midnight Sun In a complete and surreal contrast to the winter darkness, Tromsø exists in a state of “chronic insomnia” from 20 th May to 22 nd July. That is the season of the Midnight Sun, a full two-month peri-
od during which the solar disc follows an invisible cosmic ellipse and barely touc- hes the horizon around midnight, before immediately beginning to ascend again, refusing to set. The light then loses the sharpness of full daylight and takes on the quality of liquid gold. This is that ci- nematic “golden hour” that photograp- hers seek out, though here it doesn’t last a mere 60 minutes, but rather endures for nights. This shifts the psychology of the entire city, as the body refuses sleep and energy levels rise to unrecognisable heights. People cycle at two in the mor- ning, while mountaineers conquer pe- aks overlooking the fjord in the middle of the “night” and coffee shops pulsate with life. The midnight sun erases the boundaries between yesterday and to- morrow, creating the liberating feeling of time standing still. Mørketid and the magic of the blue hour Existing between these two extre- mes of light is the period that you actu- ally land in during November: the tran- sition to Mørketid (polar night). From 21 st November to 21 st January, the sun doesn’t officially rise above the horizon. Although the astronomical polar night only begins on 27 th November, the high mountain ranges surrounding the city ensure that the Sun isn’t actually visible in Tromsø itself from around the 21 st . However, the biggest misconception re- garding the polar night is that it implies pitch black, apocalyptic darkness arou- nd the clock. The Arctic winter is actu- ally full of light, just at a completely di- fferent and subdued frequency. This is
where the famous blåtimen (“blue hour”) comes onto the scene. During the polar night, in the period between 10am and 2pm, the sun approaches the horizon from below, but never actually crosses it. Its light refracts through Earth’s thick atmosphere, creating an indirect twilight. The specific refraction of light casts an intense, transparent indigo colour over the snowy land, sky and sea. This phe- nomenon actually lasts for several ho- urs in the middle of the day. Combined with stars that are already visible, warm streetlights and the reflection of the pri- stine snow, this luminescent phenome- non causes the entire landscape to appe- ar as though it’s glowing from within. Light is a living entity in Tromsø. Whether green solar winds rage across the sky, the golden sun refuses to leave the stage or the city slumbers in the me- ditative blue of the polar night, the sky above the Paris of the North demands to- tal attention and is genuinely awesome.
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