A couple caught something magnificent on camera while on an overnight flight over scenic Iceland.
Jason Harrell, 35, and his girlfriend Kasey were on a long flight from Portland to Keflavik International Airport, in Iceland, when they made the smart decision to request seats on the left side of the plane.
"I knew there was a chance with the flight path to catch the lights," Harrell told Newsweek. In a clip posted to TikTok, which has received over 14,000 views since it was shared, the couple's camera shows the northern lights as seen from a rare vantage point: the sky.
"I left my camera recording out the window on an overnight flight to Iceland," Harrell wrote in the text overlay of the video. "I love how they dance and move."
"We were both blown away by the display," Harrell told Newsweek. "We jokingly said 'well, I guess we can turn the plane around. We have seen the best display we can hope for!'
"I was also surprised that no one else around us seemed to notice, however I was too busy trying to capture the moment."
"Iceland is very beautiful and magical, but cold and windy!" he added.
The northern lights, known by their scientific name, aurora borealis, are a natural phenomenon which appears as moving walls of colorful light. This awe-inspiring event happens when solar activity on the sun ejects gas, which collides with Earth's magnetic field two or three days later.
The charged particles move along Earth's magnetic field, resulting in what we see as the northern lights, which are mostly visible in the most northerly regions of the planet including Greenland, Iceland, Canada and Alaska.
But they have also been seen in places like the U.S, the U.K. and Ireland.
Many were impressed with the footage that Harrell managed to capture from his plane seat and took to the comments section to share their thoughts on the rare sight.
Melena commented: "Wow! What a spectacle!"
"My dream is to see the Northern Lights. I would absolutely bawl feeling as if I was inside the rays. Beautiful video. Thank you!" @BethMac589 shared.
Another user said: "I am speechless" while Sarah Hates Pants wrote: "This is like Gods eye view."
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