Recent developments in the sun’s atmosphere will mean more intense northern lights for us over the days to come.

Space.com reports that there is a hole in the sun’s upper atmosphere right now. This allows for stronger and faster solar winds, comprised of charged particles emanating from the sun, to fly towards the Earth.

When those charged particles slam into the Earth’s upper atmosphere and are directed towards the poles by our magnetosphere, the result is the northern lights. The more particles there are, the more spectacular the light display.

While this geomagnetic storm is slowing, minor storming is predicted to continue through the night tonight, and possibly longer. As the sun will set in Iceland at just after 20:00 tonight, now would be a really good time to book a northern lights tour, or at the very least go outside at nightfall and look skyward.