Page Sec1:7 - Labyrint 2013 - English Edition

heard about the northern lights before,
but now they see that this winter is a
good time to come to northern Norway
to see them,” Nylund says.
“Some time ago we realized that visitors
have many different ideas about what the
northern lights really are, and there was
a great deal of confusion about what was
correct. Visit Tromsø took the initiative
and started courses for employees in ho-
tels, guide companies and other tourism
businesses. Northern lights researcher
Asgeir Brekke and I participated in the
training, and in this way, UiT was able
to ensure the quality of the information
that aurora tourists are given,” he says.
The Tromsø Museum sells a package for
tourists called “Embrace the ­Aurora”,
which includes a guided tour, a film
about the northern lights, a folder with
information about the aurora, and
tickets to the Polar Museum. Nylund
says that the package is becoming more
and more popular and that the museum
will soon start handing out diplomas as
proof that participants have been edu-
cated about the aurora.
Throughout the year, visitors can also
see an exhibit that explains the phys-
ics behind this breath-taking natural
phenomenon.
Northern lights guarantee
Nylund describes one memorable experi-
ence when he met a Japanese visitor who
was in Tromsø on his third tour, hoping to
see the magical lights.
“We were out in the woods at night, it
was cloudy and we could only see a small
greenish glimmer behind the grey. To me
it looked like a slightly mouldy cloud, but
he was thrilled just to see a little colour
change. I later got an email explaining he
could not return this year because he had
spent his money on getting married – but
that he would probably come back another
time,” Nylund said.
The Tromsø Museum can actually create
an aurora indoors. The museum owns
something that Nylund believes that no
other museum has, a terrella, a small mag-
netized model that is used to represent the
Earth. The terrella enables the museum to
create its own artificial aurora.
Kristian Birkeland, the pioneering
­Norwegian physicist, used a terrella in
1913 in an experiment that illustrated how
University of Tromsø – Labyrint E/13 ••• 7
Text: Ingrid Leithe
This winter there is a good chance of experiencing amazing northern lights. Photo: Thilo Bubek.