The astrophotographer managed to capture an incredible in its beauty and somewhat frightening phenomenon in the Icelandic sky. Torn stripes bursting out of a dark and light green ball with bright spots of white, resemble a dragon looming menacingly over a sleepy city.
Despite the fact that all this looks creepy and otherworldly, before observers, a phenomenon that is quite common for the northern and southern latitudes of the Earth is the aurora borealis. Similar flashes of green in the sky can be seen as large bursts of energetic atomic particles from the Sun slam into our planet's atmosphere. These particles pass down through the filter of protective layers surrounding the Earth, for example, the magnetosphere (an area of space where the magnetic field dominates), and interact with air particles in the lower atmosphere. As a result of such an impact, the atmosphere of our planet begins to glow, sometimes creating frightening flashes in the sky.
This effect can be observed only in polar and close to polar latitudes – charged particles move in the direction of the Earth along the magnetic field lines, which are closed at its poles.
Sources: ESA
