Tuesday, 12 September 2023

• NORTHERN LIGHTS CRUISE | 22:00

Tonight we are expecting an aurora activity of 4/9, SE 4 m/s and 6°C. Currently the moon is Waning Crescent and 6% illuminated. Partly clouded skies are forecasted in the area.

Aurora activity: 4/9
Weather conditions: SE 4 m/s and 6°C
Cloud Cover: Partly clouded skies
Moon status: Waning Crescent and 6% illuminated

Report from Eldey: Tonight the predicted kp index is about 4, which shows us that some solar activity is happening. It was also quite dark at the start of the cruise and cloud coverage is quite high which seems to be the main limiting factor for tonight. We started our cruise hopeful that the skies will clear up a bit to let some gaps appear and hopefully see some lights in the middle of it. We sailed toward Videy and faced north in the complete evening darkness and looked up to the sky. As we looked up we could see some faint northern light activity through the clouds, mainly through the phones and camera but still slightly visible. We continued watching in the direction of the north and while waiting, something magical appeared in the middle of the sky: a meteor with a very bright green tail. We had never seen, at least the crew, a meteor that bright before and after some research we discovered that the meteor colour depends on its chemical composition. This one being green, showed that it was most probably made of magnesium. We also discovered that there is currently a meteor shower going on. Its named Taurid and started on the 10th of September, and will continue until the beginning of December. We continued looking at the sky, seeing a few glimmers of lights throughout the tour, though always very faint through the clouds. Given the poor sighting and the fact that we could not really see it clearly with our bare eye we decided to offer complimentary tickets to our passengers for them to come back and hopefully enjoy a much brighter view of the lights.

- Anna "The Northern Light Queen" Richter