Northern Lights in Iceland

The Aurora Borealis, also called the Northern Lights, are one of the 25 world wonders. It is a natural light display in the sky mostly seen in the Arctic and Antartica. There are two different auroras, the Aurora borealis (Northern Lights) and the Aurora Australis (Southern Lights). The chance to see the Northern Lights is higher as for the Southern Lights.

How do the Northern Lights work?

The Northern Lights appear because there is an interaction between the solar wind, the magnetic field and the atmosphere of the planet. The approaching of the solar wind makes the Earth’s magnetic field distorting and allows some charged particles escaping from the Sun to enter in the atmosphere of the Earth. This happens both at the magnetic North and South pole. These charged particles excite gases in our atmosphere and by this, they make them glow. The magnetic field lines of the Earth disconnect from our planet because of the solar wind. When these field lines go back into its position, charged particles from the solar wind are pushed again into the atmosphere of the Earth. This is causing the Aurora Borealis. The more magnetic field lines are disconnect and go back, the more the Northern Lights are strong.

Northern Lights in Iceland

On our first evening, we wanted to do the Northern Lights Tour with an organized company. This tour had been cancelled because of a cloudy sky. We were a little bit disappointed because we absolutely wanted to see them and we stayed only for 3 nights in Iceland. The man at the reception told us, that they predict high activity for tomorrow. So we were full of hope for the day after. I woke up at night and went to the window and I didn’t trust my eyes, I thought I was dreaming, I saw a little green something in the sky. So I was already happy to make my first contact with the Northern Lights that night.

On the second evening, we went to the restaurant in the Blue Lagoon and at one moment almost everyone hurried outside, so we were pretty sure that it could only be because of the Northern Lights. As soon as we finished our dinner, we headed back to our hotel to make us ready for the Northern Lights. We decided not to make an organized tour, because we prefer to do everything by our own. We were driving in direction of the Þingvellir National Park. While we were driving, we could see them out of our car. So I was so excited to finally pack out my camera and photograph them.

After the first stop, we finally found a perfect place to take pictures of them. I just can’t describe how magical it is to observe those beautiful lights. They appear and move slowly over the sky with always new transformations until they disappear. At some point, you don’t know where to look, because there are plenty of new transformations. The colors and the „glow“ of it are simply stunning.

The most difficult thing was to take pictures of it. You have to do it manually, because if you’ll let your camera on automatic, it won’t work. I got everything in the right parameter, I just forgot to focus. It didn’t work with the autofocus, so I changed it to manual, and completely forgot to adjust the focus. That’s the only thing I regret, but I like my pictures anyway. It was freezing cold and windy, so I’m quite happy with the result.

In conclusion, I am really happy that I could witness this magical moment together with Yannick. It was definitely one of my points on my bucket list and I was happy like a little child when I saw them dancing in the sky. I think I was never that excited. Most of them were green, but some had a little touch of red in it. They were dancing just above us. When we were driving home, I just couldn’t believe what we have seen. I was so happy.

Have you already witness the Northern Lights dancing in the sky?

Read next: Northern Lights in Honningsvåg