I recommend to view the following content in a darker room.
Before we begin – what is the aurora and how does it form?
The process is much more complex, but briefly: large amounts of charged particles constantly “detach” from the surface of the Sun due to numerous reactions. These particles travel through space in the form of a solar storm – at speeds of up to 8,000,000 km/h. The storm reaches Earth in 18 hours; an invisible magnetic field protects Earth from the storm.
Due to their charge, the particles travel towards the poles, where at locations with a thinner protective layer, they penetrate closer to the Earth’s surface and settle somewhere in the ionosphere, where they interact with nitrogen and oxygen in the atmosphere. The result of this reaction is light, which we see in the sky as the aurora.
The colours depend on the concentration of oxygen (green, red) and nitrogen (blue, purple…) in the air. The most collisions occur at altitudes of 120 – 180 km, where the oxygen concentration is very high – resulting in green bands in various shades, which our eyes can easily detect.
The desire to see the aurora in person had been strong from the moment I first saw it in a photograph.
As soon as I booked my flight tickets and my trip to Iceland became a reality, I typed in: “the season to see the Northern Lights in Iceland” – Google suggested that it begins at the end of August. Amazing!
The company where I am doing my internship offers the REYKJAVIK NORTHERN LIGHTS CRUISE every year starting from 1st September, with departures at 22:00 and a duration of about 2.5 hours. Due to the forecasted strong solar storm, they exceptionally started the cruises on 31st August this year. Of course, I was first on the passenger list, along with a few colleagues.
My initial excitement soon faded as the weather that afternoon was rainy and foggy – not ideal for aurora watching.
BUT, just before sunset (around 21:00), there was a complete turnaround:
The sun appeared, the sky began to clear, and the rain stopped. Almost like a miracle. And the joy returned.
Since the sun doesn’t set until just before 10 PM, the sunset colours lingered in the sky at the start of the trip (for almost an hour). This initially prevented us from seeing the aurora.
The best conditions for observing it are: darkness (a must), clear skies, and solar activity (on a scale of 1-10).
Around 23:00, strange nebulas began to appear in the sky, quickly changing shape and position. Our guide hinted that this was actually what we were looking for – the aurora looks strong in photos simply because the camera, with the right settings, can capture more light, making the colours appear stronger to our eyes.
And indeed – in the photos, I started noticing green haze. Wow!
The camera settings recommended by the guide:
The lights moved across the sky, disappearing and reappearing – it was truly magical. The darker it got, the more green I could see. After a while, it began to fade until, at some point, it completely vanished.
Around midnight (by the time we had all returned to the indoor spaces), we started to notice almost a true green colour in the western sky – just as it should be. And in several bands! Amazing! Of course, we rushed outside – half-dressed.
The beautiful green was slowly covered by clouds; the sky still had some lights lingering – around 00:30, they began to swirl rapidly – this type of aurora is called a corona and only appears during very strong solar activity, which we had that night.
*Eline & Elena – so excited, they couldn’t stay still for even two seconds.
On the way back, we could observe blue, sparkly bioluminescent krill near the ship’s propellers – tiny crustaceans, disturbed by the movement in the water, started glowing.
We arrived at the harbour, full of impressions, after almost two and a half hours. I immediately made a short video for my family – to let them know what had happened, and mainly to inform them that not everything looks as it does in photographs.
The lights danced through my mind the entire night. And in the morning, they were still sticking to my eyelids when I had to get up early again and head back to the sea – this time, hunting for underwater creatures.
People have long tried to explain this phenomenon; numerous sagas and beliefs have been formed, including some Icelandic ones:
The colourful dancing aurora predicts a storm.
The appearance of the aurora late in winter is a sign that more snow is coming.
Pregnant women should not look at the aurora, as it will cause the child to be born with a vision disorder.
Red hues in the aurora (a very rare occurrence) bring misfortune.
The forecast for the next day was worse – solar activity was only predicted to be 4; however, everyone was still hoping for a better night than the previous one.
Despite many plans for that evening, I decided to go to bed due to tiredness after a long day and short sleep. Since it was the right time for the aurora to appear, I went to the living room before heading to the bathroom, where I could see outside through the windows.
What I noticed from afar was a large mass of green – it was it – the aurora! I immediately began photographing – through the glass, but at least there were no lights (I live on the 10th floor) to disturb the photos if I had taken them from the ground.
I soon realised how silly my actions were and quickly ran outside.
The spectacle had already begun – a green band appeared, strong at least as much as the bands in the distance from the previous evening.
It started to move and became stronger. It developed some pinkish hues.
I quickly began thinking about how to capture an interesting motif – so I wouldn’t just photograph the sky.
Since it was nearby, I used the Sun Voyager sculpture for added interest.
Yes, at that moment, time stopped, and all I saw and thought about was the beautiful band in the sky, which I watched with numerous Chinese tourists who had already been waiting there with tripods since dusk.
Like all the “hazes” the previous evening, this too slowly faded.
“Now, Alenka, you know the new ones will soon come, and they can appear from any direction (most likely from the magnetic north), and now you need a new location. Otherwise, the photos will be boring.”
The first idea – the nearby concert hall.
It hadn’t been five minutes since I got there when green bands began appearing in the west (on the opposite side from the previous evening).
And then… something incredibly beautiful happened – the aurora quickly flew towards me from that part of the sky at high speed, danced above me (Reykjavík) for a few seconds, acquired strong pinkish additions, and then disappeared somewhere unknown. Behind it, green bands remained, still flickering in the sky – where it had come from. The whole thing lasted about two minutes.
I managed to capture a bit on camera:
I – alone in front of the colourful concert hall, with that scene in my memory, feeling ecstatic. There are no words to describe this event. You have to experience it yourself. That’s it.
After a few minutes, I saw nothing more, and the clouds started thickening across the sky, so at just after 1 AM, I decided to leave the spot. So not much sleep for me…again haha.
Since I had the next day free for rest, I went out again in the evening. Yesterday the aurora appeared earlier than the first day, so this time I went outside even earlier.
Thanks to the great experience from the previous night, I headed towards Harpa again.
Soon, two American women approached me and asked if I lived here. They wanted to know if the aurora could be seen from here. We laughed when I told them I had seen it yesterday – right here. After showing them my photos and sharing my camera settings, I convinced them to wait with me.
The debate was joined by an older Englishwoman, who expertly rescued us from the freezing air:
She led us a few meters away and hinted that this spot might be more to our liking than the previous one. And she was right! Warm air was coming through these grates. For thirty minutes, the four of us stood there, more or less in place, waiting for the northern lights to finally appear.
Since it didn’t, the Englishwoman gave up. Just a minute later, though, the aurora appeared in the sky, just like the night before.
Even though it wasn’t as strong this time, it was still mesmerizing to watch in all its shapes and movements. Even on such a bitterly cold night.
It lingered almost until 1 AM. Another magical evening!
What else could possibly surprise me after these three nights? I can’t wait for the next days of September!
I’ll check in again soon—so much is happening here!
<3, Alenka