Why Space Fans Flock to This Eerie Landscape

Steam from geothermal activity softens the aurora-filled sky over Iceland.

Iceland is such a popular destination for star-gazers that Hotel Rangá in the town of Hella hosts its own observatory with a retractable roof.

Aurora hunters by night, Gaukur Hjartarson is a civil engineer during the day, while his brother Hreinn Hjartarson is a project manager at a power plant.

Ribbons of green paint the skies over Iceland.

The Hjartarson brothers helped photographer Robert Omerod see his first aurora in person.