The northern lights were observed in various places in North Holland this evening. The rare natural phenomenon could be seen on the beach of Castricum, among other places. Photographer Sam de Joode was lucky and took a special snapshot: “Even with the naked eye you could spot the northern lights.”
Photographer Sam de Joode didn’t hesitate for a moment when he realized that the Northern Lights might be spotted tonight. “When I arrived at the beach of Castricum I already saw the red stripes in the sky. That is very special.”
With the naked eye
According to De Joode, the beach was still quite deserted upon arrival around 8 p.m. “But it went like wildfire. Within half an hour the entire beach was full.” It is the second time for the photographer to capture the natural phenomenon, the first time he managed to do so a few months earlier.
Still, he thought it was more special tonight because the light was so clearly visible. “Even with the naked eye you could spot the Northern Lights quite well.” De Joode has a tip for the residents of North Holland who want to give it another try tonight. “Take a tripod with you. And use a low ISO value and a shutter speed of approximately 5 seconds.” Although he thinks there is little chance that you will still see the green or pink light clearly. “Its peak was between 7 and 9pm tonight.”
However, various images appear on social media showing the natural phenomenon observed from the province. The aurora borealis could be seen in Velsen and Wormer, among others. Yet not everyone is lucky, as the tweet below shows.
Rare
The Northern Lights can normally be seen north of the Arctic Circle, but during a period of maximum solar activity the sky lights up here too. The natural phenomenon is caused by bursts of charged particles on the sun that enter our atmosphere. There, the particles collide with molecules, which causes the spectacular light.