Stunning Aurora Timelapse from Iceland, December 2014

By Nancy Atkinson - December 29, 2014 at 12:53 PM UTC | Planetary Science

As we get ready to wrap up the year and the month, here's an absolutely beautiful compilation of views of the aurora -- or

norðurljós

as they are called in Icelandic -- from the month of December 2014 in Iceland.

"Even though the month is not over yet, the weather forecast does not allow any shooting the rest of the month," said photographer Ólafur Haraldsson via email.

Haraldsson's timelapse captures the quiet and magical beauty of the aurora and the majestic and varied landscapes of Iceland.

See more of Haraldsson's wonderful work on

his website

-- which includes some amazing 360 degree interactive panoramas -- or on

Twitter

and

Instagram

Aurora December 2014 from Olafur Haraldsson on Vimeo.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com