Aurora Facts

The lights have been around since the earth formed an atmosphere... since the times of dinosaurs. The Aurora Borealis is at its very best and most intense in the Northwest Territories, where we sit directly under the display. At Blachford Lake Lodge we boast over 240 potential Aurora-viewing nights. The Aurora display depends on two things, high activity on our sun, and clear weather on earth. Our usually clear, dark winter nights make the best backdrop for the Auroras awe-inspiring shows of vivid Auroras, often dance directly overhead.

What is the Aurora?

The Aurora is a spectacular light show which occurs in the night sky at Blachford Lake Lodge. The display is caused by solar flares - eruptions of gas on our sun.

The sun gives off high-energy charged particles that travel into space at very high speeds called the "solar wind". As the solar wind interacts with the earth's magnetic field, some particles follow magnetic fields into the ionosphere (about 60 to 600 kilometres above the earth's surface). When the particles collide with gases in the ionosphere, they glow, producing the spectacle that we call Aurora.

Aurora colours range from green to red, and blue and violet. The most common colour is a ghostly green, given off by oxygen atoms. Oxygen is also responsible for a reddish brown. Intense auroral displays often have purple edges, caused by a mixture of nitrogen and oxygen. The Aurora appears to move constantly in shimmering waves or curtains of light, or sometimes as huge loops or crowns of coloured light overhead.

It is not possible to predict auroral activity very far in advance, as it depends on solar activity, but if the weather is clear, chances are pretty good that you will see Aurora Borealis at Blachford Lake Lodge between September and early April.