Aurora to the Greeks and Romans was the Goddess of Dawn, sister to the sun and moon, with boreas being the Greek word for north wind. With each break of day, Aurora was said to have raced across the Earth to awake her siblings, leaving waves of colour in her wake. Norse legend, however, states that these shimmering rays of light were reflections of the Valkyries’ gleaming spears and armour – female warriors who charged through the sky.
The lights are said to form in areas of high latitude, where disturbances in the Earth’s magnetosphere result in a series of highly charged waves of particles. Iceland offers the perfect conditions for the Northern Lights and, as a result, the island has grown a steady following of eager sky watchers.
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