Iceland's capital Reykjavik basked in the beauty of one of nature's spectacular light shows as Northern Lights or Aurora Borealis glowed around the city Wednesday night.
But in order to watch the stunning Aurora Borealis display well, the City Council switched off all street lights and advised residents to do the same in their homes.
"The spectacle of Aurora Borealis requires dark and partly clear skies," the Icelandic Met Office posted on its website.
By doing so, residents reduced the level of light pollution to a minimum, making the view of the Northern Lights much better than ever.
The Icelandic Met Office, which releases daily forecast of the Northern Lights, predicted that it would appear in the city at about 9 or 10 p.m. local time.
Beforehand, the city council announced that street lights would be switched off in multiple sections for a one-hour blackout and reminded residents to drive safely.
However, the spectacular light show was off to a slow start, so lights were switched off by 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. until midnight. According to NPR, some residents were initially annoyed when the Northern Lights did not begin on schedule.
At the same time, Icelandic Police had warned residents to be careful while watching the Northern Lights, emphasizing the dangers that might befall them if they observed the phenomenon in a car parked in the roadside or while in the middle of the street.
Both residents and tourists alike posted photos of the beautiful Northern Lights on social media.
“The lights were really strong in the last two nights," said 18-year-old Florian Schade who has been living in Reykjavik for two months. "It was unbelievable."
Reykjavik — a city with a population of 120,000 — prides itself on the frequent displays of Aurora Borealis in its night sky.
Although Reykjavik is a small city, the light pollution in it is visible in previous photos of Northern Lights, appearing as a pink or orange glow on the horizon.
Aurora Borealis occurs when electrically charged particles from the sun that enter the atmosphere of the earth collide, producing a lasting vivid display.
The phenomenon is routinely visible in the circumpolar region, and forecasts reveal good conditions for the Northern Lights over much of Alaska on Thursday night.
In early March, a space weather scientist at NASA founded a new citizen science project that aims to gather information about Auroras online. The crowdsourcing project is known as "Aurorasaurus."
Watch the videos below to get a glimpse of the beautiful Aurora Borealis in Iceland.
Photo: Balint Földesi | Flickr
