Stunning aurora glow above Iceland after 'dead' sunspot erupts

A sunspot that Woke from the dead last week and erupted with a medium-size solar flare, along with a mass ejection of plasma, lit up the northern skies in glowing lights. One stunning image showed the Aurora raining down on the clouds above.

The Gofoss Waterfall is about 45 minutes from the second largest city in the country.

The nighttime window of darkness is rapidly Shrinking here at 65.7 degrees north latitude, just 60 miles south of the Arctic Circle, which makes the Aurora spectacle that much more precious, according to photographer Todd Salat.

Summer sunlight will make it hard to see the lights until autumn. The near-full moon was competing for light space here, but the Icelandic Auroras would not be denied.

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The northern lights were created by a moderate-sized solar storm and an explosion of solar particles seen by satellites. The sunspot that exploded was dubbed dead because it had recently erupted and become part of a quiet solar patch. As the solar particles interacted with the Earth's magnetic field lines, air molecules high up in the atmosphere were excited, producing the incredible sky show.

NASA is going to launch 2 rockets into the northern lights.

Salat told viewers on Facebook that he had never seen the magnitude of the Auroras before, while on a trip to Iceland. Salat had only seen a small glimpse of the northern lights before this. The weather forecast changed.

I broke camp earlier in the day in light rain, and the weather forecast was for clouds and scattered showers for the entire week. Salat said that he had told himself not to take that forecast to heart.

While he was tempted to put the cameras away, he stumbled upon the waterfall. He spotted a glow between the clouds while taking a test shot.

I picked up my pace, and when I saw a spike develop, I sprinted until my lungs burned to get into position for this composition. I was ecstatic when the best shot of the trip up to that point went into the bag.

Salat was able to take a few more shots after the clouds opened up.

I have been on a lot of Aurora hunts, but I don't know if I have ever worked so hard to get the shots I have for these. I am happy that it is not forever, but I am happy to be living now. It's time to hit the road and see what's around the next bend.

The article was published on LiveScience.