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Reykjavik switches city lights off for Nothern Lights, and it looks amazing

A sight to behold!

Mihai Andrei
September 29, 2016 @ 9:07 pm

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Reykjavik City Council in Iceland has announced that it would switch off many of the city’s lights in order to enable citizens to enjoy the spectacular Northern Lights display – and what a display it was!

Street lights will be turned off in Reykjavík due to the expected northern lights show tonight

Street lights were turned off between 10pm and 11pm in various districts of Reykjavik – including the city centre, for one simple reason: provide the best possible viewing conditions for a particularly intense display of the aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights. Residents were also asked to switch off their own lights to reduce light pollution to the minimum.

Photo by Reddit user ourtran

Iceland’s skies lit up for three days, with last night being expected to be the most spectacular of them all. It wasn’t as strong as Monday’s, but it was still a sight to behold. According to the Icelandic Met Office’s website, which offers a daily forecast for the northern lights, some particular conditions have to be met in order for such a strong display – the aurora borealis “requires dark and partly clear skies.”

Photo via Imgur/hebbihebb

Photo via Imgur/hebbihebb

 

Both locals and tourists shared their own pictures of the beautiful event. Florian (@flo.scha), a German photographer and traveler, has been posting photos from Iceland for several weeks. He was delighted to see the northern lights.

“The lights were really strong in the last two nights. It was unbelievable,” said Florian Schade, 18, from Hamburg, Germany, who has been living inIceland for two months and working at a bed-and-breakfast in Keflavik, in the south.

Photo via Imgur/hebbihebb

So, the only question that’s left is: who’s coming to Iceland?

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