Earlier this year, photographer Chris Mathews captured an unforgettable view of the Aurora Borealis in all its glory directly over an erupting volcano in Iceland. The photo is being honored as a photo of the week by the UN’s World Meteorological Organization.
All Mathews photography can be viewed on his website.
On March 24, 2021, Mathews was in the right place at the right time to get a once-in-a-lifetime photograph. But it didn’t happen by accident. In an interview with weather.com, the photographer detailed how he captured the viral image.
Aurora Borealis Explained
The colorful dancing lights of the Aurora Borealis are caused when electric-charged particles from the sun crash into the earth’s atmosphere. The lights are seen above the magnetic poles of the northern and southern hemispheres.
This amazing light show appears in many colors. Most common is a pale yellowish-green, produced by oxygen about 60 miles above the earth. When nitrogen is present the lights are blue or purplish-red. All-red auroras are the rarest. They show up at heights of up to 200 miles and are created by high-altitude oxygen.
