This spectacular video of the Northern Lights was created by blending thousands of shots from DSLR cameras near Gullfoss, southwest Iceland.

Displays of the Northern Lights occur when solar particles enter the Earth’s atmosphere and on impact emit burning gases that produce different coloured lights (oxygen produces green and yellow; nitrogen blue).

The scientific term for the lights is the Aurora borealis (named after the Roman goddess of the dawn). A similar spectacle in the southern hemisphere is known as the Aurora australis.(Source)

The Northern Lights, more properly known as the Aurora Borealis, have long enchanted visitors to Iceland.

With their dazzling colors and otherworldly glow, they might look like magic, but the science behind them is well understood:

The shimmer arises when electrons from solar winds interact with the earth’s atmosphere, and the flowing, stream-like movements result because the winds follow the planet’s magnetic force.

Mostly green – the result of wind interaction with oxygen molecules about 60 miles above the earth – they can sometimes glow red when higher altitude molecules are encountered. (Source)