Northern lights

Seeing a sky with the Northern Light in reality is something special that you do not forget. It is so unlike anything else you can see in the sky. Seeing the northern lights reflected in the glitter of water over the sea is a special experience, it can be done in Piteå before the snow covers the sea ice in the fall. When winter is here and it is quite white outside it is a completely different fantastic experience. However many times you have seen it, it is a new experience every time.

- It's something magical and powerful to see the Northern Lights! /Visitor 1
- It even sounds like sparkling from heaven /visitors 2
- What a fantastic color explosion /visitors 3

The northern lights are called the beautiful different colored light that you can sometimes see move across the sky in the northern parts of the world. A similar light is found over the southern parts of the earth, it is called the southern light. Together, the northern lights and the southern light are called the Polar Light.

The Latin name of Norrsken, Aurora Borealis, began to be used in the early 17th century. Aurora was the goddess of the morning redness in ancient Roman mythology and borealis means northern. A translation of the name thus becomes northern morning redness or northern dawn light. The southern light also has a Latin name, Aurora Australis, southern morning redness. The Sami name for Northern Lights, Guovsahas, is also related to dawn lights.

Here you will find a movie about Northern Lights - everything you need to know about the Northern Lights in Swedish Lapland.