Finland - Event

On cloudless nights in late spring and early autumn, greenish-yellow, red or violet lights curl and stretch across the midnight skies in Finish Lapland. According to Sami legend, it's caused by the swish of a giant fox's tail striking snow...

A more scientific explanation is that charged particles from the sun speed through space and crash into the Earth's atmosphere at 90,000 times the speed of sound. The lights are never the same - you might see ghoulish emerald-green patterns invade the sky one evening, and a rainbow of red, fuchsia, turquoise and amethyst the next. How long the spectacle lasts and when it happens is, of course, up to Mother Nature, so be patient and enjoy the show she puts on.

The best place to see the Northern lights is an area on the northern coast of Norway (where they occur almost every night in the dark winter period under a clear sky) and in north-west Finland. You can witness the auroras on average three nights out of four in the tiny Finnish village of Kilpisjärvi.