Last night did something absolutely fantastic.
Just want to share it here.
Northern Lights from 42,000 feet / 12,000 metres. Monarch Airlines Airbus A321.
It was really strange. We took off from Gatwick Airport (situated between London & Brighton on the south coast), headed to the north east initially over eastern London, Essex, Suffolk & Norfolk, then out over the North Sea, then headed due north. We could see Sunderland, Middlesborough, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, etc to the west, as we passed by, though we were very high up by this point.
When level with Edinburgh & every one seated, all of the interior lights went out & we were in total absolute darkness at 36,000 feet. After about 10 minutes the eyes adjusted & the view out of the window literally blew you away. The stars as you have never seen them before. Being so high up, they do not twinkle as the air is too thin for that to happen & you could easily see the Winter Milky Way, passing to the east of Orion & many other star clusters, difficult to see from the ground, as the air is often too hazy & unsteady.
M44 Praesepe, in Cancer just spectacular (with averted vision, face pressed up against the plane window), a large hazy cluster difficult to see from the ground. The Milky Way through Cygnus which was on it's side just above the eastern horizon, well, never seen anything like it, not even from the Sahara in Egypt. The North American Nebula was visible quite clearly to the naked eye. The Pleiades in Taurus, I reckon I saw twelve, the Hyades looking like an arrow head pointing straight down, etc.
The reddish colours of Betelgeuse, Aldebaran & Arcturus were very obvious to say the least.
Then the captain announced either passing over the north of Scotland & heading towards Iceland or keep the current heading North & circle off the coast of Norway @ 62 North.
The Aurora at this point was elusive, then a faint glow appeared dead ahead, almost like a false dawn (although this was approx 11:15 PM now), so the decision was taken to head for the point off Norway, as a more northerly vantage point looked the better option. So we kept heading north past Orkney & the Shetlands in absolute darkness.
The glow became lighter than after a while it really brightened up & became a huge green arc. Just absolutely stunning.
Then we headed back & passing over Norfolk, the cabin lights were put back on (felt like someone was shining a torch in the face, because of course we were all dark adapted).
I attempted some photographs, hopefully some will have come ot OK. The Airbus was superbly stable & brilliantly piloted, so it was worth attempting some longer exposures.
Andrew Brown.
Just want to share it here.
Northern Lights from 42,000 feet / 12,000 metres. Monarch Airlines Airbus A321.
It was really strange. We took off from Gatwick Airport (situated between London & Brighton on the south coast), headed to the north east initially over eastern London, Essex, Suffolk & Norfolk, then out over the North Sea, then headed due north. We could see Sunderland, Middlesborough, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, etc to the west, as we passed by, though we were very high up by this point.
When level with Edinburgh & every one seated, all of the interior lights went out & we were in total absolute darkness at 36,000 feet. After about 10 minutes the eyes adjusted & the view out of the window literally blew you away. The stars as you have never seen them before. Being so high up, they do not twinkle as the air is too thin for that to happen & you could easily see the Winter Milky Way, passing to the east of Orion & many other star clusters, difficult to see from the ground, as the air is often too hazy & unsteady.
M44 Praesepe, in Cancer just spectacular (with averted vision, face pressed up against the plane window), a large hazy cluster difficult to see from the ground. The Milky Way through Cygnus which was on it's side just above the eastern horizon, well, never seen anything like it, not even from the Sahara in Egypt. The North American Nebula was visible quite clearly to the naked eye. The Pleiades in Taurus, I reckon I saw twelve, the Hyades looking like an arrow head pointing straight down, etc.
The reddish colours of Betelgeuse, Aldebaran & Arcturus were very obvious to say the least.
Then the captain announced either passing over the north of Scotland & heading towards Iceland or keep the current heading North & circle off the coast of Norway @ 62 North.
The Aurora at this point was elusive, then a faint glow appeared dead ahead, almost like a false dawn (although this was approx 11:15 PM now), so the decision was taken to head for the point off Norway, as a more northerly vantage point looked the better option. So we kept heading north past Orkney & the Shetlands in absolute darkness.
The glow became lighter than after a while it really brightened up & became a huge green arc. Just absolutely stunning.
Then we headed back & passing over Norfolk, the cabin lights were put back on (felt like someone was shining a torch in the face, because of course we were all dark adapted).
I attempted some photographs, hopefully some will have come ot OK. The Airbus was superbly stable & brilliantly piloted, so it was worth attempting some longer exposures.
Andrew Brown.
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