The first time I saw it, I was leaning over the steering wheel of a dusky purple 1977 Chevy Nova on a northern highway near midnight, trying to roll down the driver’s side window to get a better fix on it, even as my passenger was shouting 
to be heard over the ghostly radio voices fading in and out. Within seconds it multiplied and changed colours, soaring over us like an exploding rainbow. Nature’s primal postcard, delivered free.
It’s fascinating and beautiful and daunting and a mind-blowing blast. It’s green and white and yellow and mauve and sometimes crimson. If I boasted that it’s bigger than a Spielberg movie and better than the top five best things you can count on your right hand, well, you might be suspicious. But you can see for yourself. Just head to Alberta’s North.
Alberta’s Capital of Northern Lights
Fort McMurray (some 430 km north Edmonton or a 70 minute flight from the province’s capital city) is one of the best places to view the phenomenon, best known as the Northern Lights. Fort McMurray, which was founded in 1790 as a North West 
Company fur-trading post, lies within the southern portion of the zone of maximum auroral occurrence during the night-time hours, according to Dr. Gordon Rostoker, an Aurora researcher at the University of Alberta. Put simply, as a viewing platform, the Fort McMurray area rocks.
Also, the city is relatively free from light pollution, unlike some cities where the haze of night lights pushes the darkness out and makes viewing difficult. And Fort McMurray is still considered a frontier city, growing famous for its oil sands yet maintaining an edge-of-the-wilderness ambience.
In astronomy, an aurora is an optical phenomenon characterized by colourful displays of light in the night sky, caused by the interaction of charged particles from the solar wind with the upper atmosphere of a planet. On Earth, aurorae are caused by the interaction of solar wind particles with the planet's magnetic field. They are most prominent in higher latitudes near the magnetic poles. For this reason, the aurora occurring in Earth's Northern Hemisphere is called the aurora borealis, or Northern Lights.
In Latin, aurora means “dawn,” though viewing the Northern Lights is usually 
best experienced late in the evening and past midnight. And the lights are already performing in autumn, as the viewing season starts in September and lasts until April.
While of course there are other places in Canada to view the Northern Lights, statistics from Environment Canada suggest Fort McMurray has the advantage over other Canadian destinations of a higher mean temperature, giving the viewing of Alberta's Northern Lights more ‘wow’: sharp colours that undulate like a multi-hued blanket in a breeze.
Lights Twinkle on Nature’s Starry Tarp
Karen Soyka, a Lake Louise resident and independent contractor in the travel industry, went on an Aurora Borealis viewing tour at the Fort McMurray area early in October this year. What she saw startled her, even though she’d thought she’d arrived prepared.
“We’ve all heard about it and we’ve read about it and seen pictures,” says Soyka. “But until you see it dancing…well, it’s a brilliant moment. I couldn’t believe it. I wasn’t sure what it would be like until I actually went, but I found this tour to be a 
very rewarding experience.”
Soyka’s guided tour of several days with Alta-Can Aurora Tours began in Edmonton, kicking off with a road trip of about four hours in a motor coach. “It gives you time to rest before viewing the lights at night, because we started viewing at 11 p.m.,” she says.
“This tour also highlights what life in northern Alberta is like,” says Soyka. “You are not just going to look at the sky. Someone comes in to talk about the aurora and there’s also a photographer who comes along and helps you set up your camera to help capture the night. I had a digital camera and before I knew it he’d helped me and I got some amazing photos.”
Tour operators in the region that specialize in Northern Lights tours include Alta-Can Aurora Tours (780-452-5187), Aurora Adventures (780-743-0766), and Aurora Tours (780-334-2292).
You’ll find much to do in this Northern territory. Day trips range from dog-sledding and cross-country skiing to snowmobiling, downhill skiing at a regional hill, skating and horse-drawn sleigh rides.
These day options are great for visitors who want to experience more than the Northern Lights in this region. The Oil Sands Discovery Centre provides an opportunity for curious travellers who want to learn more about the oil sands that lie beneath the soil, now recognized as likely the largest oil deposit in the world.
The Oil Sands Discovery Centre offers curriculum-related education programs which introduce students of all ages to the science and history of the oil sands. All programs feature hands-on activities such as games, drama, science experiments, and tours of the Centre. There are very cool Big Boy machines, screens that catapult you into the field and Professor Nositall’s Discovery Hunt (sorry, but this is one you need to explore yourself).
