Photographers capture breathtaking ‘dragon-shaped’ images of Northern Lights
Photographers caught the attention of global space agency NASA this month after they captured a breathtaking dragon-shaped light show in the sky over Iceland.
Jingyi Zhang and his mother Wang Zheng were in Iceland when the Northern Lights were seen in the skies overhead and appeared to form the shape of a dragon’s head.
NASA attributed the unique light formation to a hole in the ring of light that circles the sun, known as its corona, in a post naming the image as the “Astronomy Picture of the Day” on February 18.
Photographer Jingyi Zhang captured this breathtaking light show over Iceland caused by a hole in the sun. NASA/Jingyi Zhang & Wang Zheng
“As some of those particles then struck Earth's atmosphere, they excited atoms which subsequently emitted light: aurora,” the post said.
“This iconic display was so enthralling that the photographer's mother ran out to see it and was captured in the foreground.”
Zhang’s image is also not the first striking image NASA has shared of the Northern Lights.
NASA has collected multiple images captured by photographers from underneath the Northern Lights that resemble animals. NASA/Marco Bastoni
Photographer Marco Bastoni last year also captured a similar light formation over Norway that was caused by another hole in the light emitted from the sun.
Two months after that photo was taken, Adrien Mauduit snapped a band of shimmering light over a lake near Bashaw in Alberta, Canada that mixed with low-hanging clouds.
The global space agency attributes the stunning lights to energy that has come from the sun and interacts uniquely with atoms in the Earth's atmosphere. NASA/Adrien Mauduit
“Usually spotted at high latitudes in summer months, night shining or noctilucent clouds hang just above the horizon, transfusing light into a darker sky,” NASA said.
“Formed near the edge of space, the icy apparitions are condensations on meteoric dust or volcanic ash still in sunlight at extreme altitudes.”
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