North Iceland Aurora and Snowstorm

August 26, 2013

North Iceland Aurora and Snowstorm copy

Photographer: Jennifer Dombrowski 
Summary Authors: Jennifer Dombrowski; Jim Foster

Just after 1:00 a.m. and after we had gone to bed with heavy snow falling at our accommodation near Lake Mývatn, Iceland, the sky cleared a bit and a very faint green glow appeared on the horizon. We quickly threw on warm clothes and headed outside into the cold wind just in time for this aurora to become active. It was only visible for about an hour, but we watched the green wisp glimmer and billow until the very last second it faded from our view and danced away. Auroras form when energetic particles emanating from the Sun are guided along the Earth’s magnetic field lines toward the magnetic poles. If these particles come in contact with oxygen atoms, green light is emitted. Photo taken on January 4, 2013.

Photo Details: Camera: Canon EOS 7D; Lens: 17-50mm; Focal Length: 17mm; Aperture: f/2.8; Exposure Time: 25.000 s; ISO equiv: 2000; Software: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4.2 (Macintosh).  

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