Spotting the Northern Lights from Zoetermeer? These tips will increase your chances

It is on many people’s bucket list: seeing the Northern Lights. The natural phenomenon is rare in the Netherlands, but it is not impossible to spot from Zoetermeer. How? With these tips.

Eelco Doornbos, scientist at the KNMI, knows a lot about the northern lights, also known as aurora borealis. He explains that the sun has an 11-year cycle and that we are currently in a so-called maximum. That period will last until approximately 2027.

“The chance of eruptions on the sun is a lot higher during the maximum than during the minimum,” says Eelco. “But even during the maximum, the Northern Lights can only be seen from the Netherlands a few times a year.”

Tips from Aurora Alert Netherlands

The Northern Lights are certainly not an everyday phenomenon in the Netherlands. What should you pay attention to if you want to see the natural spectacle? In the Facebook group Aurora Alert Netherlands Information about the Northern Lights in our country is regularly shared. The group’s nearly 30,000 members share photos and inform each other whenever there is a chance to spot the Northern Lights.

Raquel van Elsen is the group’s administrator and shares tips from her and other Northern Lights spotters Aurora Alert Netherlands.

• Use your camera: “In the Netherlands you can rarely see the Northern Lights with the naked eye. With a strong Northern Lights you can at most expect a glow with some pink, green, white and gray. This is because our eyes pick up colors very poorly in the dark. You can make the colors appear clearly on your camera.”
• Photographing: “The Northern Lights are moving. It’s dancing, so to speak. If you want to capture the ‘curtains’ and ‘pillars of light’, use a very high ISO value so that the shutter speed can be reduced to one to three seconds. This is only possible with newer cameras. With older cameras, background noise often occurs. Using a tripod is always recommended.”
• Behind the clouds: “Sometimes people think they are seeing the Northern Lights, but in reality it is the lighting of greenhouses, for example. Can you really see the Northern Lights? As a rule of thumb you can use the following: the Northern Lights are always behind the clouds and not in front of or below them.”
• Check the current aurora activity: “On this site you can really get a glimpse of what’s going on in the universe. You can use the app on your mobile Spaceweatherlive and then click on the aurora activity tab. Please note that the values ​​in the app are a prediction.”

Eruption of the sun

KNMI scientist Eelco can tell you more about the Northern Lights. “There must be an eruption on the sun that creates a so-called geomagnetic storm. That storm must be strong enough to be spotted in the Netherlands.”

In the current maximum, this happens about once every two months, but according to Eelco it is often not dark enough or too cloudy. “In the summer, when the nights are short, the chance of seeing the Northern Lights is much smaller.” Is it cloudless and nice and dark for a long time? Then go to a dark place in Zoetermeer such as the Bentwoud.

Northern lights above Zoetermeer

It became apparent in May 2024 that the Northern Lights can sometimes be seen above our city. Several Zoetermeer residents were lucky enough to see this natural wonder and take photos. View the images here.