On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Aurora season in Iceland begins in mid-to-late August, when the summer has receded enough for the stars to become visible again, and winds down in early May, when the sun completes its takeover of the skies. In between, the nights can be magical. But you need to get here when we actually have darkness!
Our favorite star also has seasons: every eleven years, it cycles from one active period to another. As the Sun becomes more active, sunspots become more common, producing flares and vast clouds of debris called coronal mass ejections, or CMEs for short. If they strike the Earth (which is, after all, a very small target very far away from the Sun), CMEs can trigger brilliant aurora displays sometimes visible in the lower latitudes. But even without a CME, residents of northern countries like Iceland get to see the lights quite often. Here, it’s less a matter of aurora hunting than just opening your front door and going “oh all right then there they are.”
We’re headed toward solar max later this year or in 2024. If you’ve ever wanted to see the northern lights, you might want to think about planning your expedition soon. For inspiration, here are a few photos from the 2022-2023 season in the land of fire and ice.
Lady Aurora shines over Hagavík, a small cove on the southern shores of Þingvallavatn, Iceland’s largest natural lake. In the distance you can see the snow-dusted mountains of the western highlands.
An iconic name from popular culture? Check. Eerie green lights coming from somewhere in outer space? Check. I’d been jonesing for this shot for quite a while and even though it’s an obvious cliché …
… resistance was futile.
There are not a lot of forests in Iceland – settlers cut down to older trees, and the flocks of sheep tended to devour the saplings – but there are a few here and there. This grove stands on the left bank of the river Sög where it meets the Hvitá river on their way to the sea.
Another shot I’d wanted for a while. There’s a mountain overlooking the church and the lake, and if you’re willing to risk the traffic coming around the blind curve just there, a nice vista for photographing the lights.
There’s not a lot of traffic in rural Iceland in November, so it’s not really a big risk.
The northern lights are triggered by the interplay of the solar wind (in its various forms), the Earth’s magnetic field, and our upper atmosphere. Sometimes, the show lasts all night; here the glow of sunrise chases the last wisps of green away with the twilight.
Thanksgiving really isn’t a holiday in Iceland, so the November skies dressed up right away for Christmas.
Brutally cold weather at least tends to produce clear skies. On this particular evening in mid-January, it was -24 C, the coldest it’d been in a long, long while. Fortunately, my place (the one in the front of the row of little houses) remained quite comfortable despite all that.
Of course, I was outside quietly freezing nearly to death. Worth it, though.
Appearances notwithstanding, this February night was actually considerably warmer – well below freezing, yes, but not as brutal as the month before. However, the snow was quite deep and the plows didn’t get out to my area for a few days, leaving this neighbor’s house (and mine!) snowbound. It’s important to keep a good stock of supplies on hand in the winter.
The abandoned bridge over the mighty Þjórsá, Iceland’s most powerful river, is a great place for photos. Unfortunately, winds sweeping down the valley from the highlands can make long exposures here difficult, as they tend to try to take the camera – and photographer – for a ride up in the air.
Another view of my little house. From time to time my cat lets me go outside to take some photos. Thanks for letting me share them with you!
JPL
Amazing!
Baud
Sweet.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
I have wanted to see the Northern Lights my whole life. Have a couple days in Iceland in September, and I’m hoping to fulfill this lifelong dream.
Wanderer
Beautiful photos. Stunning colors. Seeing them must’ve be awesome. Thanks for sharing them.
Rachel Bakes
Breathtaking. Thank you
raven
incredible!
mrmoshpotato
Wow.
HinTN
Thanks to your feline overlord for letting you go out and thanks to you for sharing. Iceland – bucket list ✔
CCL
So lovely, thank you for sharing these with us.
Amir Khalid
These aurora pictures are glorious. There’s just no other word for them.
Albatrossity
Stunning shots of a stunning piece of the planet! Thanks!
Dorothy A. Winsor
Spectacular!
Mike in Oly
Absolutely breathtaking!
delphinium
Stunning shots! Was in Iceland in late March a little over a decade ago-we didn’t see any auroras but plenty of other cool stuff. Iceland is such a beautiful country.
Dagaetch
Absolutely phenomenal. Thanks for sharing!
Betty
Fabulous photos.
Layer8Problem
I and my partner went to Iceland in mid-September about ten years ago and it was a gorgeous trip, driving all the way around the island. Striking, spectacular, and lots more superlatives. We didn’t see auroras though, but did get a surprise snowstorm west of Akureyri that had emergency crews setting up in hotel dining rooms to organize getting out to sheep stuck in the pastures. I doubt I’ll ever get Partner to go back in the thick of winter to see an aurora (“You want me to be cold in the dark?”) but damn, maybe I will go solo.
pieceofpeace
Nature gives the most stunning beauties – I can imagine the feelings of being completely in awe when viewing these in person.
cope
These are stunning pictures, thank you.
I’ve been lucky enough to see one really good auroral display (Little Traverse Bay, Michigan while camping there) and one feeble one (western Colorado) in my life but I would still love to experience them from Iceland.
Thanks again.
Yutsano
I need to learn the Icelandic word for gorgeous, because that’s really what all this is! It also helps that this is in one of the most friendly countries in the world. Virtually everyone speaks English as well, so communication isn’t usually a problem.
I was also today years old when I learned we have a jackal from Iceland!
HinTN
@Yutsano: We had a neighbor, an artist, who married an Icelandic gent, who spoke perfect English. When we played bridge they would converse in Icelandic, assuring us all the while that they weren’t collaborating on the down low. Said they were just discussing their kids… Unh huh 😋
Wag
Spectacular. I love Iceland. We had a great trip several years ago, 2 weeks on the Ring Road. No Northern Lights, as it was July and the it never got truly dark…
now I have an excuse to go back!
Manyakitty
Mind-blowing. Seeing the northern lights is a big bucket list item for me. Just…wow. 🤩
UncleEbeneezer
Gorgeous pix!
UncleEbeneezer
Deleted, wrong thread, lol
Miss Bianca
Speechless
way2blue
Christopher, your photos are stunning. I have been wanting to visit Iceland for a while now, as Icelandic Airlines lets you stop out for a week en route between the U.S. & Europe. Never thought about it before—but I assume the aurora doesn’t stop for sunrise—it’s just that we can’t see it unless it’s way dark, with clear skies… Thanks for sharing these.
cckids
Thank you, these are soul-stirring, and inspiring :) Made my morning!
SkyBluePink
Magical!
Chris T.
Green is the most common color (or colour), but red, blue, and purple are also possible. There’s a nice article here on the National Park Service site (https://www.nps.gov/articles/-articles-aps-v8-i1-c9.htm) about why the colors are the way they are, and a history including why it’s called “aurora borealis”.
Tehanu
Lovely, thank you so much!
Christopher Mathews
Thank you all for the very kind comments!