| My first trip occurred over
the weekend of December 9th to 10th 2006 and included noted Sky@Night
Magazine/ TV Astronomer Pete Lawrence with myself as
the guest Astronomers and Peter Truman the Omega organizer of the event.
It should be noted that for the local events Arctic Safaris organized the
main events whilst in Finland. Arriving at Kuusamo Airport Lentokentäntie
we were taken to the Holiday Club Hotel at Kuusamo, Finland on the 9th
where we gave a joint presentation in the Hotel's excellent auditorium.
Later that evening we were whisked away to another much darker site to have
a meal then hoped to see the Aurora from a frozen lake. Alas the weather
had not been promising as the temperature was around +2 above freezing instead
of the more normal -20! Very light drizzle and low cloud even prevented us
seeing the Moon which rose later in the evening. However we enjoyed the
night time stroll through the Forest track to look at the native hunters
shelter (very like the Indian tepee in the US) and glimpses
of the local Reindeer before spending some time on the frozen lake. We returned
to the main hotel and Pete and I promised we would keep a watch on the weather
until 2am local time - of course also a good excuse to keep a check on the
local bar! Naturally the sky did not clear but that is the way of things. Next morning after breakfast we all had the choice of either taking a Husky sled ride or going on a Snow Mobile trip through the Forest and Pete, myself, Peter Truman and his better (!) half, Carole all elected to be on the Snow Mobiles. 3 hours later, including a brief rest break and then a lunch break, we arrived back at the Hotel to rejoin the Husky groups and the Lapland/Santa contingent. Sadly we had to make our way back to Kuusamo Airport for the return to the UK. However being a night flight meant we were also above the clouds and with the captains permission the cabin lights were turned off and some of us managed to see a bright display of the Northern Lights which helped to cap off a great weekend. Pete Lawrence has written a great web page about our adventure as well so do take a look at his web site : www.digitalsky.org.uk |
| The following images
are based on the best of those taken during the Dec 9th-10th 2006 trip |
A Stuffed Reindeer at Kuusamo Airport watches over the
baggage as it arrives! |
|
Two of several Male 'Elfs' who helped guide us during
our stay. These two ended up nicknamed 'Hairy Elf' (top) and Shorty!
Note on the floor of the Holiday Club Hotel some large
tiles shaped like footprints - Bigfoot sometimes pops in! |
The jolly Female 'Elves' who helped us at the airport. |
The Holiday Club Hotel Kuusamon Tropikki where we all stayed
for the night and the Northern Lights talk took place. |
Pete Lawrence discusses the Northern Lights with one of the guests
after the evening meal at the dark site we visited. |
A Hunters shelter - and very cosy and warm too! |
A Wild Reindeer - quite difficult to photograph in the dark but
after several goes this is the best I could get. |
The next day and it's time to Snow Mobile! We gather round to
listen to our guide. |
It's pretty difficult to try to photgraph when on the back of
a Snow Mobile so this was taken at our rest break with Pete Lawrence at centre.
Pete did a great job of driving the Snow Mobile and it was great fun! |
Time for the Lunch Break around the roaring log fire, |
Mankind has always been fascinated with fire and I wanted to get
the reflections in the water and ice. |
Pete and fellow guests enjoy their hot Fish soup |
The main building nearby but closed during winter. |
The Frozen Lake behind the Pine Trees |
The Huskey's were located nearby and most seemed a little wary
of their visitors. This one was called Sissy. |
| On
the flight back home in the dark Pete and I spotted the Auroral Arc and alerted
Peter Truman. He in turn had asked the Captain if the cabin lights could be
dimmed for a few minutes and he was kind enough to do so. The Cabin crew were
very patient with us as we endeavoured to both show passengers the Aurora
and also try to get a few pictures of it as well. I managed 2 images (shown
below) then Pete (who had not had a chance to try until this flight) took
quite a few images as the Aurora brightened in places. Pete's images are now
on his web site www.digitalsky.org.uk |
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| The
Aurora is captured as it undergoes several brightenings with a ray developing
as shown in these two images captured within 30 seconds of each other. The
town lights blurred on the ground have not been identified but could be somewhere
over Sweden or southern Norway - but I could be wrong! |
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For more details of Lapland/Aurora flights either
check my web pages for upcoming flights or contact: