Where's the best place to see the northern lights?

That depends on which tourist board you ask. The aurora borealis, as the lights are sometimes known, can be seen from parts of Greenland; but Greenland is not the easiest country to reach or travel around. Alaska and northern Canada are also good spots, but displays sometimes occur as far south as Colorado. See spaceweather.com/aurora/ gallery_24nov01.html for a gallery of recent sightings.

That's a long way to go on the off-chance of a sighting.

The Northern Lights Centre in Andoy, a Norwegian island, is an obvious place to go. Should the lights fail you, there are mountains to climb, seals and whales to spot, fishes to pursue and birds to watch. Puffins are especially prolific.

How do I know when the lights will appear?

The Spaceweather site mentioned above predicts aurora activity. But in Norway, the lights won't be visible until late August. The quickest way to find out the likelihood of seeing them from any particular destination is to visit the Aurora FAQs at gi.alaska.edu/pfrr/aurora/faq.htm.

Is there any chance of seeing them in Britain?

Only if you're very lucky. A beautiful display was visible from Northamptonshire in 2000, and a hopeful astronomist keeps watch at York University. He will email aurora alerts to anyone who leaves their address at aurorawatch.york.ac.uk. (The false alarms are a thing of the past, the AuroraWatch team assures us.)