Midnight Sun

The sun doesn’t look any different at midnight than it does at any other time of the day, of course. Nevertheless, basking in its rays and knowing that it is the middle of the night is quite special. The closer you are to sunset the more golden its glow, which makes August a better time to visit than June from a photographer’s point of view.

In the High Arctic, such as on Spitsbergen, the midnight sun comes out very early – in Longyearbyen it’s as early as the 19th of April. This means that in the spring you have a unique opportunity to drive a snowmobile, ski, or mush your dog team under the midnight sun. Not many places in the world can offer this!

The midnight sun, patrolling the sky in almost uniform circles, stays above the horizon throughout the summer until the start of autumn. On the 23rd of August the sun dips below the horizon for the first time. After this, it is a rapid change into the polar night.