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Last night was THE most surreal and amazing experience I have ever had in my entire life! This morning we kept all saying "Okay, so was that a dream or did we actually really DO that?" We did it, for sure! ^^

So, we set off at 5pm yesterday evening and got to the college about half an hour later. There, we had a lecture about astromony and the stars and the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis). This was really fun and they showed us lots of amazing pictures from an overhead projector. We were there until 7:45 and then we went to the airport and checked in.

We got some sweets and other things and then boarded the plane at about 9:00. We were all tightly fastened in, began to move at 9:30 and then, the engines roared, we got faster and faster and eventually we were descending into the air! My brother hates flying but this time he seemed really cool about it. He was sat between me and my mom, which was good really cos it meant he wouldn't have been too scared XD

It was dark outside and we could see the beautiful towns and cities below us. The airport was East Midlands Airport so we could see the town of Castle Donginton lit up below us. It was beautiful. About twenty minutes after, the captain announced that Leeds was on our right (which was where we were seated) and Manchester was on our left. Soon enough, we were passing over Edinburgh and Glasgow and then, the whole cabin went into darkness.

Now, we could see the beautiful stars lighting the whole sky and I could clearly see the constellations of Orions Belt and The Plough. About half an hour after this, me and my brother could see a band of greyish silvery light spanning the entire sky. It was the Aurora Borealis! I was so excited! It got brighter and brighter and then, it began to develop patterns. It moved very very slowly into three collumns of bright silvery light that looked all wispy and floaty like bright cirrus clouds. Then, we could see rays of light actually going up into the starry sky.

And now, this is the bit that slightly scares me. The captain and the astronomers had told us, quite casually, that we now on the edge of space and were actually up in the earth's atmosphere! We were seven miles up so we were in the first part of the atmosphere, which is the Troposphere. But, I'm very glad to say that, while I may not have travelled the world, I have been to the earth's atmosphere and back, so that is definitlely something to tell the grandkids!

Sometimes, I was surprised the plane wasn't about to fall out of the sky because everyone was walking around and climbing all over the seats to get a view. There were at least 100 of us! XD We went out of British airspace and into Icelandic airspace so that were between Iceland and Scotland (the other option was Norway, but it was decided Iceland instead) and we circled that area for about half an hour just taking in the views and gasping in awe and then we went back southwards towards home.

We passed over Newcastle and Blackpool on the way back, back over Manchester and Leeds and finally landed back at the airport at 12:50am.

What an absolutely amazing night ^^

Sounds really neat! What kind of plane did you fly in? Was it something that was optimal for looking at the Northern Lights or did you still have to look through tiny portholes? Did anyone snap up any pictures? I imagine it'd be almost impossible since you're moving but just thought I'd ask. And last... where did you hear about seeing the Northern Lights from an airplane? That's news to me. Since I live in the States I've only ever heard of going to Alaska to see them really. And doing a quick search there is an "Aurora Australis" which is the same but happens in southern hemispheres. I suppose you learn something new everyday. Sounds like you had a great time and thanks for sharing!!

Very lucky.

Wow heh when I read this, I thought it was to do with the book, but yeah this is actually probably cooler

I'm jealous.

You saw that because of the sun.It's called a solar wind.It comes from the sun,when it hits earth then beautiful skylights called auroras.

It was just a normal plane. Had to be a proper passenger jet because there were so many of us in there. But they told us to take mirrors and so we took one, and it was a real help ^^

No pictures, but the astromoners took loads and loads and are going to put them up on their websites ^^

My mom saw them from a travel agency and thought she'd book one up as a late birthday present for me ^^ The company who does the Northern Lights flights is called Omega but I don't think they are an international company.

what color were the lights?Was it green or purple?

I've only seen the northern lights once. The night before halloween when I was in grade 11. They were just red and you could see them all stretched out and slowly moving over the sky. It was the weirdest experience ever, especially because I live in Southern Ontario.

I'm glad you had fun, I think that would be a super cool trip.

They're usually visible more in Scotland and north of there, but sometimes, they can come as far south as England, so it's not surprising you saw that that once too. Iceland is one of the best places for them though, apparently.

And ninjoy, the lights were mainly grey and silver but also had green hues, which I forgot to mention! But yeah, very faint green was visible, but I expect we will see more green on the actual photos that the astronomers had taken.

Ok cool thanks for the info! Sigh I wish I can see the northern lights too...

Did anyone whistle at them?


I see them all the time up here. I love them it plays a big part in my heritage, and yes we all temp fate and whistle at them.

Southern Ontario is actually farther south then England is, so in all likelihood you'd be more viable to see them in England. However light pollution can vastly ruin the chance of seeing them. I've only seen them once in Edmonton, but i've seen them quite often outside of the big cities in Alberta.
Green is the most common color and i've never ever heard of them being silver/grey, it may just be an area difference. Green/red are common colors while things like purple, blue and yellow are much rarer to see.

I saw a 3 hour display of them once out at my camp and you can hear them crackling. It was quite surreal, just green and red dancing across the sky.

PICTURES!

http://www.astrospace.co.uk/gallery/atm ... -img3b.jpg

This photo was taken by one of the astromoners and I can remember this one because it was when the aurora was just starting to take form. If you look closely, you'll see the columns of light just starting to form there. You can also faintly see the rays going into the night sky above.

http://www.astrospace.co.uk/gallery/atm ... -img4b.jpg

That is very bright! Didn't look very green when we were there; it was more silvery with green hues.

I live in southeast Houston, so I probably won't be seeing these

Thanks for posting though. I'm glad you had a good time! Now you just need to come scuba diving off of Galveston