We've had Far North cruises to Alaska and Scandinavia, but our best-ever Sky of the Far North cruise was aboard the Crown Princess September 5-23, 2009. This cruise had been selected because it was one of the few late-season cruises across the North Atlantic -- nights in Iceland and Greenland don't get dark enough before mid-August to see northern lights, and this particular cruise coincided with the dark nights of the waning crescent and (September 18) new moon.

With the optimum sun and moon factors selected, the big unknown was the weather. We would probably be within sight of the auroral oval for about ten days, between the Faroe Islands and Newfoundland, but the average cloud cover this time of year was between 70 and 90 percent. Still, the aurorae are there 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and with a dark, clear sky there was an excellent chance we would see northern lights.

• September 11, 2009: The first night not completely overcast was the night after we left the Faroe Islands. There was about 50 percent cloud cover, but the moon was entering its last quarter of its monthly cycle and so was half-illuminated. The moonlight was too bright and no aurorae were spotted.
• September 14: The next night that wasn't overcast came a few days later. The night was surprisingly clear, with only a smattering of clouds. We were expecting to see the northern lights high in the sky, and almost missed the muted display low on the northern horizon. There were bands, not very active, but unmistakable.
• September 15: The following night was partly cloudy, and the aurorae were higher in the sky, more active, and displaying several different forms (bands, patches and rays). Even the bright deck lights failed to outshine the celestial show.
• September 16: It was the next night, though, that was incredible. A surprising early evening display was spectacular, with bright and active forms high in the sky, including overhead and even to the south. This was the only night we saw red aurorae in addition to the more common green aurorae. The auroral index measured by Earth Satellites that evening jumped from a very quiet 1 to very active 7s and 8s within half an hour. The display lasted for hours.
• September 17: The next night we saw some patches that brightened for a few minutes. It was the fourth and last night we spotted northern lights.

Fortunately, some of the passengers would like to share their images taken during the cruise.

• Jon Bridges has posted 33 downloadable auroral images from the cruise on Picasa
• Gunnar Wall has posted a dozen downloadable auroral images from the cruise on Webshots
• Other images below are by passengers Ed Ettely, Roy Chadwick, Susan Gajda and Dia Vale and are reproduced with their permission.

In this image we can see a curtain and rays, along with a green auroral glow in a large area of the sky. The northern lights are about 50 miles above us, and we see the silhouette of the foreground clouds (only a few miles up) as well as the distant stars shining through the aurorae. Image copyright 2009 Ed Ettely.

Another image showing a twist in the active auroral band. Image copyright 2009 Ed Ettely.

This image shows a bright, well-defined auroral band and rays in a less active sky. Image copyright 2009 Roy Chadwick.

Another active band and rays. Image copyright 2009 Susan Gajda.

While the bridge was amenable to turning off all the decorative lights on the observation deck, for some reason (we never found out why) the bright spotlights were sometimes left on. Here we see that the northern lights were sometimes bright enough to outshine even the powerful spotlights. Image copyright 2009 Dia Vale.


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