The Northern Lights

I had read so many things about the northern lights before I came to Iceland. Most blogs I read warned not to get one’s hopes up of seeing the northern lights due to the fact that so many factors have to be just right and the conditions have to be just perfect for the lights to make an appearance.

But leave it to me to really get my hopes up (and pray so hard that I could see them!)...

I checked the aurora forecast daily, and on my last night some friends I had met on the south coast tour decided to book a northern lights tour and hope for the best. The skies were supposed to be free of clouds, but on the forecas, the visibility and activity of the lights was a 1 on a scale of 0-9, meaning if we did see them that they wouldn’t be very colorful or noticeable to the naked eye.

We drove 40 minutes out of the city of Reykjavík, and even on the drive the tour guide started to point out a few very faint rays in the sky. I honestly couldn’t tell if I was looking at the northern lights or a glare on the tour bus window...But I was getting so excited nonetheless.

When we got to the site, we hopped off the bus and were greeted with two pale green coronos (crowns)  across the entire sky, similar to the shape of rainbows but much wider.. It was so neat and exciting! Of course everyone was setting up tripods and cameras and taking long exposure pictures (myself included)!

THEN once we were contently admiring them, the most supernatural and ethereal experience I have ever had in my ENTIRE life took place: The northern lights became MUCH more colorful and vibrant. They began to move across the entire sky, dancing up and down and side to side. The pale green was now vivid green and it had lines of PINK in it! It even escalated more and the lights started swirling right above us. We were jumping up and down and squealing with pure joy and excitement! If one didn’t know what was happening, it would have been really freaky.. Actually it was a teeny bit scary still, but in a wondersome way!

Wow, what a PERFECT way to end such an awesome day and such an great stopover in Iceland.

P.S. I was so confused about how the northern lights occur but I learned essentially that when charged particles from the sun collide with atoms in the earth’s atmosphere, the electrons in the atoms travel from a low state to a higher state. To go back down to the low state, they release photons in the form of light, causing the most magnificent auora borealis! (google.com)

Once again, so in awe of God.

Love,