Aurora Borealis - From Iceland's Eastern Region (Jason Guenzel)

Aurora Borealis - From Iceland's Eastern Region

After a first "success" at capturing the aurora from a location a few hours from my home, that effort now seems rather trivial. I was quite humbled to see this glorious scene unfold in front of me while on a vacation through the south and east of Iceland, on my birthday!

I generally am prepared for some sort of nightscape work when travelling, but almost every night of my trip was clouded out. As luck would have it, we were staying one last night out on the south tip of Vatnajökull National Park. My phone dinged me with a space weather alert this very evening and I crossed my fingers. This night was forecasted cloudy! After a hearty meal, a short walk, and some relaxation, I staggered outside at midnight to see what was up. It turns out there wasn't anything recognizable as aurora. Disappointed, I still aimed my camera up and took a few pics. Hmmm...looks a little green, but I wasn't impressed. A few minutes later I could see some movement but couldn't tell if they were clouds or aurora. Then, literally, within 15 minutes the sky erupted into the dancing light show you see here.

During this season in Iceland, there is no astronomical twilight. So, you can still see the dusk that lasts all night as the sun skates less than 15 degrees below the horizon. The glow of the aurora is a shocking shade of lime green (or is it Mountain Dew?). In fact, that light is illuminating the clouds and the foreground, as well. The spires and ripples move so fast that even an 8 second exposure shows some motion blur. The camera is pointed somewhat northeast, looking up the coast, with the volcanic mountains of the Vatnajökull National Park on the left and the coastal flood plain and Atlantic on the right.

The scene was captured on a Canon 6D at ISO3200 through the Rokinon 14mm at f/2.8 on a fixed tripod.

Enjoy!

Cloudy Nights

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