The Midnight Sun
What is the Midnight Sun?
The Midnight Sun is a wonderful phenomenon. It is what makes the Sky bright at nighttime during the Polar Day, just like the Northern Lights brighten the Sky during the dark period. The Midnight Sun looks different during the course of a “night” and also depending on the period when you experience it. Close to the summer solstice, you may feel an early evening-like atmosphere when you see the golden disk above the sea. Further away from the summer solstice, the Sun is lower and lower on the horizon, but without descending under the horizon, and its dark orange tones remind of a late-evening moment.
Photographing the Midnight Sun
Everyone reading this has taken a picture of a sunset or sunrise! You know… those beautiful orange-y or reddish images with the Sun close to the horizon. To be able to take those pictures, however, you needed to wake up very early in the morning or you needed to wait the sunset time and, when the good moment came, you just had a few minutes in which to compose your picture and to finally take it. The good part is that no special camera settings, other than the ones you used then, should be set when you would like to capture the Midnight Sun in pics. And the really great part is that, here in Varanger, you don’t need to wake up early in the morning or to wait for a specific time in the evening, in order to get those nice pictures!
And, for the technical bit, it should be mentioned that the Midnight Sun determines your photos to be more vibrant and to have more vivid colors by default. With the wrong settings, your pictures will be overwhelmed with very strong colours which do not reflect a real experience of the phenomenon. And, for a good exposure, as a general rule, try to have the horizon below the centre of the picture.
What’s the best place on Earth to see the Midnight Sun?
The Midnight Sun is much easier to see that it’s counterpart during the Polar Night – i.e. the Northern Lights. It occurs basically everywhere all over the Polar Circle and it can be seen from anywhere in that region. High mountains obstruct however the view of this phenomenon in other parts of the Arctic, but, luckily, as there are no high mountains in Vadsø, the Midnight Sun can be seen beautifully over the sea, at any time of day. …Or night!
The weather, however, may influence how one can see the Midnight Sun. Just like the Northern Lights, the Midnight Sun can be obstructed by thick clouds. However, you will feel that it’s there in the sky, as it is light outside, even if you can’t actually see it. A clear sky however, makes the experience of seeing the Midnight Sun much more pleasant. By the way, would you like to be able to predict the weather yourself just by looking at clouds and at other weather signs? If yes, book right now a Weather workshop! And I promise that I’ll make you LOVE clouds!
Would you like to see the Midnight Sun with a telescope, in the middle of the Arctic wilderness, and to learn more about it, after a session of cloud spotting? Then join me in Aurora Labs’ Cloud Spotting under the Midnight Sun activity!