Northern Lights, Aurora Borealis. Iceland by Gert Hilbink

About "Northern Lights, Aurora Borealis. Iceland"

by Gert Hilbink

About the artwork

The aurora is predominantly seen as a light glow or moving arcs, beams or curtains of light. Sometimes above the northern horizon is an arc from which rays of light shoot up like searchlights. Very rarely, the aurora displays a flaming character, showing a peculiar vibration and relatively rapid pulsating movement, similar to the dancing of candle flames. Some dancing rays appear to rotate, with one ray shifting slightly to the side and disappearing, to make way for a new ray, which in turn also shifts to the side and disappears, to also make way for a new ray. This en-echelon movement can happen relatively quickly. In and around the geomagnetic zenith, the so-called crown phenomenon can be observed, in which the rays appear as if coming from or being pulled towards a single point of flight. Towards the end of an aurora, diffuse-looking islands appear, strongly reminiscent of the artificial illumination of the nighttime cloudy sky over urbanised areas. The aurora is mainly visible at high geographical latitudes. The sun's activity has an 11-year cycle. During that time period, activity increases and then weakens again. The likelihood of auroras is greatest in years with high activity on the sun's surface, which manifests itself in a greater number of sunspots. When such'a sunspot is pointed towards Earth, the charged particles released in the eruption can reach the Earth's atmosphere and cause auroras. Shortwave radio transmitters are severely disrupted several hours beforehand.