canadiancruiser13 Posted September 9, 2014 #1 Share Posted September 9, 2014 Would like to know if any fellow cruiser's have seen the Northern Light's (Aurora Borealis) during any sailings to Alaska in June? My DW and I have booked an Alaskan cruise for June 2015. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shmoo here Posted September 9, 2014 #2 Share Posted September 9, 2014 (edited) Would like to know if any fellow cruiser's have seen the Northern Light's (Aurora Borealis) during any sailings to Alaska in June? My DW and I have booked an Alaskan cruise for June 2015. You need dark nights to see the aurora borealis. In June there aren't many dark hours. Plus most cruiseline don't go far enough north to be in an area to see them. You typically have to do a land tour that takes you further north and then you have a chance (slightly)to see them later in September. Here's a link you can use to see the forecast for where the aurora will be most visible. http://www.gi.alaska.edu/AuroraForecast/Alaska/ Edited September 9, 2014 by Shmoo here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pbsteve Posted September 9, 2014 #3 Share Posted September 9, 2014 It's all up to the sun and solar flares. Winter is usually best to watch, since in the summer, and especially June, the daylight lasts longer, making night time brighter than in winter. But you can still see them sometimes in the summer, but less of a chance. Here is a link that shows what time sunset is, and sunrise by day, and by city so you have an idea of when you can see them, and it'll only be for 3 hours max when the sun is down and the sky is dark. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rlkubi Posted September 9, 2014 #4 Share Posted September 9, 2014 We were on the Legend transatlantic last September/October and saw them by Greenland several nights. Awesome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krazy Kruizers Posted September 9, 2014 #5 Share Posted September 9, 2014 In Alaska you really need to be inland late at night to see them in the dark. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bottom-dragger Posted September 9, 2014 #6 Share Posted September 9, 2014 will you be told you can't see them? yes, by people that were here for 7 days and didn't go outside after dark or by those that read (and believe) a lot on the net. can you see them? yes, i live 100' feet from saltwater so i'm not way inland. i live in the middle of SE so i'm no where near Fairbanks. but we do see the lights year round. not routine and not the type that make the cover of National Geographic. They were visible in august the night of the 'super moon'. will you see them? probably not, i doubt many are committed enough to be out midnight to 2 am every night just to check. i used to have a woman on my field crew that would drink a cup of tea before bedtime so she'd get up to "go" outside each night. they're more common than unicorns. more rare than cheechakos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shipbound Posted September 9, 2014 #7 Share Posted September 9, 2014 (edited) I went to Northern Michigan University in Marquette, Michigan I saw the Northern lights in Sept/Oct. Like one of the posts said it has to be very dark in order to see them, June would be still to light to see them but when you do they are beautiful. Gary Edited September 9, 2014 by Shipbound Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glaciers Posted September 9, 2014 #8 Share Posted September 9, 2014 (edited) There may be someone out there but I've not heard of anyone seeing the lights in June. The window of darkness is very small, there would need to be no cloud cover and you'd need to be lucky enough that were were lights at all. End of the season cruisers this year have been fortunate. The lights have been active this fall. Edited September 9, 2014 by Glaciers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laughing husky Posted September 11, 2014 #9 Share Posted September 11, 2014 And they are out right now.....and gorgeous..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glaciers Posted September 11, 2014 #10 Share Posted September 11, 2014 Received this last night through the aurora notification system. Looks there may be a good showing. Possibly in the lower 48 as well. The effects of a solar event facing roughly toward Earth, on the 9th of September, should reach Earth around midnight on September 11th UT. Another, larger event, also facing Earth, occurred on September 10th, and it should have higher velocity. The effects of the latter event may therefore reach Earth at the same time. Even if it is later, disturbances should be large and last long enough to result in increased auroral activity for the next three to five days. The result is that aurora watchers should monitor the Current Auroral Activity on the forecast website or watch http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/ovation/ for the next five days. We will post more accurate predictions or descriptions of conditions when the results of more solar observations become available. Note that we do not expect the aurora to exceed index = 5 or 6 on our scale because the magnetosphere has been relatively quiet. However, conditions such as these could lead to auroras observed from the middle or southern states. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northern Aurora Posted September 11, 2014 #11 Share Posted September 11, 2014 The display last night in Fairbanks was wonderful -- good color intensity and a great amount of movement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glaciers Posted September 11, 2014 #12 Share Posted September 11, 2014 (edited) The display last night in Fairbanks was wonderful -- good color intensity and a great amount of movement. There's a storm headed our way. You and laughing husky may get another good show tonight. Edited September 11, 2014 by Glaciers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donaldsc Posted September 12, 2014 #13 Share Posted September 12, 2014 Look at the sunrise, sunset, twilight and morning light times for June and then rethink your question. That is the absolute worse time of the year. DON Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Putterdude Posted September 12, 2014 #14 Share Posted September 12, 2014 While nothing is impossible seeing the Northern Lights in coastal Alaska in June in quite unlikely....you are heading into the longest day of the year and there is just to much light to see them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northern Aurora Posted September 12, 2014 #15 Share Posted September 12, 2014 There's a storm headed our way. You and laughing husky may get another good show tonight. We are receiving new coverage on that storm, and I heard the Alaska News Nightly extensive story this evening on our NPR station +. Hope all in south-central are "battening down the hatches." Today Fairbanks was clear and sunny, with great views of the Alaska Range from our house on Chena Ridge. But I looked outside a few minutes ago and we are starting to cloud over. So all those photographers seeking great aurora photos may be disappointed tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retiring soon Posted September 13, 2014 #16 Share Posted September 13, 2014 HI all! Fingers crossed for some sightings tonight or in the next few days. Anybody have any pictures to share, please? The only lights I have seen so far were on Aug 31 at the Sydney Laurence Theatre in Anchorage.:( ~ Jo ~ :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1153rsmith Posted September 13, 2014 #17 Share Posted September 13, 2014 The display last night in Fairbanks was wonderful -- good color intensity and a great amount of movement. Can someone post some pics? We saw them last week in Talkeetna. They weren't real intense and only the greens, but we saw them! One of the things that made our trip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giantfan13 Posted September 13, 2014 #18 Share Posted September 13, 2014 Check this site out http://news.msn.com/science-technology/us-skygazers-could-get-rare-glimpse-of-northern-lights Cheers Len Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PNW Traveler Posted September 13, 2014 #19 Share Posted September 13, 2014 Disembarked the Solstice yesterday, September 12. We were well within the forecasted range for the Northern Lights during the latter part of our cruise. Unfortunately, the moon was very bright and full during this time. Many of us stayed up very late and/or set alarm clocks in order to view the lights. All were disappointed. We are back home in Seattle and hoping to catch the fringe of the lights this week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1153rsmith Posted September 13, 2014 #20 Share Posted September 13, 2014 Here are my northern lights pictures from Trapper Creek taken at 2am on 9/1/14. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retiring soon Posted September 14, 2014 #21 Share Posted September 14, 2014 Nice, thanks for posting the pictures. Apparently some officers saw the lights on our cruise last week but didn't have a camera. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1153rsmith Posted September 14, 2014 #22 Share Posted September 14, 2014 Nice, thanks for posting the pictures.Apparently some officers saw the lights on our cruise last week but didn't have a camera. On our ship, you could get on a list for a wake up call if they came out. We also did that at the hotel. That is how I was able to get these pictures. I was out cold when the call came, so without that, we would have never seen them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retiring soon Posted September 15, 2014 #23 Share Posted September 15, 2014 HI all! 1153rsmith ~ wow, that was very nice of them to do that!! What ship was it? Every night if I wake up around 4'ish I check for them but never see any.:( Hopefully some day I will. I bought a nice picture of them at Icy Strait Point & some cards of them at the museum in Anchorage. ~ Jo ~:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1153rsmith Posted September 16, 2014 #24 Share Posted September 16, 2014 HI all! 1153rsmith ~ wow, that was very nice of them to do that!! What ship was it? Every night if I wake up around 4'ish I check for them but never see any.:( Hopefully some day I will. I bought a nice picture of them at Icy Strait Point & some cards of them at the museum in Anchorage. ~ Jo ~:) We were on the Island Princess, but didn't see the northern lights on it. My pictures were taken at the Mt. McKinley Princess Lodge and they did the wake up call also. It came in about 2am and when I answered, they just said the northern lights are out. I am so thankful they did that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beach4me Posted September 21, 2014 #25 Share Posted September 21, 2014 We saw them on the Radiance in late September a few years ago - between Juneau and Skagway. Would LOVE to do a Northern Lights cruise. Bucket list!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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