Next Tuesday, November 2, I will be going away on vacation for 10 days. I’ll be joining Melita Thorpe of MWT Associates, Astronomy magazine’s travel partner, and a small group of 13 Astronomy readers to observe what will no doubt be spectacular displays of aurora borealis from Norway. Despite the fact that I am on vacation time, kicking back, I will attempt to blog about the trip as far as my Internet connectivity allows. I will fly from Milwaukee to Chicago to Newark to Copenhagen and then on to Bergen. From Bergen, the group will sail on the MS Midnatsol, a 674-passenger ship of Norwegian registry.
The cruise over the following week will carry us past many ports of call as we travel northward, including Torvik, Trondheim, Tromsø, Hammerfest, and Kirkenes. We will cross the Arctic Circle and be as far north as I’ve ever been on the planet. (Ha, I used to think St. Petersburg was far to the north!) We will see the beauty of Norwegian fjords (including the site of the sunken German battleship Tirpitz), churches and cathedrals, islands, fishing villages, and, of course, spectacular displays of northern lights.
Stay tuned for periodic updates on the auroral adventure as time and technology permit.