Evensong for the Fjord
I am crazy busy!
Therefore I have a question for your readers: Would you rather have me post photos without all the texts and explanations (which takes a lot of time to write), rather than no photo at all?
Here is one from yesterday! Please enjoy! And you make med extremely happy every time you hit the Like-button!
Evensong for The Fjord – this is how dark it gets here in the Arctic Region of Narvik right now. Photo taken on May 19. 2013 at 11:34 pm
Sun Day (official)
Today – February 7. – is the official Sun Day in Narvik. That is the day, the sun is no longer obscured by the mountains and it shines down on the town square. The dark season of 2013 is over officially, although a lot of valleys and villages in the municipality has to wait for days, even weeks for the sun to get high enough in the sky to shine down on them. Time flies – and soon the midnight sun will shine in through windows from the oposite side of the Ofoten Fjord.
The official sun day is celebrated with taking half the day off and of course eating sun buns.
The sun is shining downtown today. To the left is the town hall (square building) and the newly built Rica Hotell. Further up the mountain slope Narvik University College is partly lit by the sun beaming down the mountain side.
Light – but no sun
This is a photo of the darkest day of the year in The Polar Night in Narvik. All though the sun is far from showing itself, we have a few hours in the middle of the day when the light is just Magical. The umber reflections of the sun below the horizon emanates the landscape and creates a special, dreamy warm light despite the cold up here.
All though we have no sun here in The Polar Night – the light is Magical! Narvik on the Winter solstice 2012
One from the archives
I really enjoy looking through older photos, and thought this would actually deserve a posting. It’s taken one the magic night 23. January 1216 pm. The northern light was absolutely stunning that evening…
Northern Lights January 23. 2012 with the Fagernes mt. and parts of the city Narvik in the foreground.
Rising moon above the City
Shot this photo of the moon rising this evening above Narvik.
Moon over Narvik
Still retaining “That ole Swiss Cheese Look”
I popped out a couple of days ago and captured this photo of our beloved companion in space. The old spellbinder and maker of romantic promises. The old natural satellite faithfully circling our home like a watch dog, gobbling up debris and preventing a lot of unpleasant collisions with Earth. This goddess Selene. Luna the treacherous – thought to have the power to turn people into luna-tics…
Whatever you wish to call her, she is beautiful, and still retaining “That ole Swiss Cheese Look”.
Full moon over Narvik
The waneing sun
The days are rapidly getting shorter. Geographically the sun should disappear on November 22. But because of the mountains, the sun disappears a few days earlier. Geographically the sun reappears the February 6., but again because of the mountains the actual observation of the sun is a few days later.
In between these dates it is dark here. Around Christmas it is just a faint dusky light around noon, the rest of the 22 hours of the day it is dark. Pitch dark – as in the middle of the night. It is the dark season. But this time of year makes it even more cozy with lights, especially candle lights. AND it is the season of Northern Lights! During summer, the midnight sun lights up the sky day and night, thus drowning the faint light from the Northern Light. In the winter-time it is the other way around!
Even now the sun is setting early. This photo of reflections in the snow-covered mountains from sunset was taken 15:58 today.
Reflections from the sunset on snow-covered mountains today
Winter is here!
Winter is here. I defied my crippling back pain and went out to shoot a few photos. Enjoy!
Snow showers coming in the Ofoten Fjord – Eibhlin of Panama is being loaded at pier 5
A tiny waterfall on Ankenes freezing up
Beisfjord and the mountain Beisfjordtøtta farthest away in between the snow showers
The alpine slope on Ankenes needs a little bit more snow to be in service
Ofoten Fjord lit up by Northern Lights
This old and slow computer really needs changing now. Moore’s Law is very much in effect here. But I enjoy very much sharing my photos with you – and by the looks of it – you enjoy it to! Lesley Carter is one of my most avid readers. Her blog Bucket List Publication – lesleycarter.com is really nice – especially if you’re a viking roaming the seven seas (and the lands in between). So please check it out! And she is – according to her profile page – pregnant as well: so congrats and best wishes all around, Lesley!
This photo was taken from Ankens with view of the Ofoten Fjord and the mountain range Veggen (loosly translates to “The Wall”) in the background on October the 12. Enjoy!
Northern Lights lighting up The Ofoten Fjord with the mountain range Veggen in the background. October 12. 2012
“The Light Machine”
The lighthouse on Ankenes and Northern Lights up above behind some fast moving clouds. Taken on October the 13.
“The Light Machine” – Lighthouse on Ankenes and Northern Lights behind some fast-moving clouds up above.
And one more
This is taken the same evening (October 14. 2012) as the previous photo. Here the Northern Light is somewhat stronger. This view is towards the South and the previous photo is taken towards the North.
Northern Lights – Ankenes – seen from the breakwater towards the south
A few picker uppers – Northern Lights shows
Quiet – but it’s there
It’s been very, very quiet on the Northern Lights front. The particle flow is very good. Now, I am not a physicist – but I have a fair share of knowledge in the field, having studied it and been a happy member of the Physics Club at The University of Tromsø (The Northern Lights Capital of Norway – a really fun city with lots of things to explore – I highly recommend it). In my humble opinion when the Solar Wind is at low speeds (right now ~500 km/s) – as it is right now, and the Geomagnetic Field component is neutral and the Dynamic pressure is low – even with a quite strong stream of charged particles from the Sun – all we get here is a “vail” of Northern Lights, but things changes fast. Sudden Solar Prominences can quickly change the conditions for Northern Lights.
2013 – A peak year
The solar activity in terms of Solar Prominences (also known as protuberanses) varies. These are known as Solar Cycles (or Magnetic Activity Cycles). They peak about every 11. year. 2013 is an estimated new peak. In correlations with this heightened activity, solar observatories register a rise in Sun Spots.
The photo below is taken in Ankenes the 15. – which was a pretty good day for shooting, but this faint “vail” captivated me enough to develop.
Faint Vail at 01:55 am above the Fagernes Mt.
The Flash Bang!
To round of a quiet night with practically no northern lights and some editing work on the aging computer – here is one of the big flashes from last night! Glad Wenche came out in time to see this! Better than fireworks – isn’t it!
One of the two biggest flashes last night.
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