NASA spots mysterious 'dragon' aurora in the sky

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Huge dragon-shaped aurora developed in the sky over Iceland

A huge dragon-shaped aurora caused by a hole in the Sun’s corona developed in the sky over Iceland earlier this month.

NASA released a spectacular image of a huge "dragon" aurora charging quietly across the night sky over Iceland.

The natural phenomenon is caused by particles emanating from the Sun that collide with Earth's atmosphere to put on a gorgeous light show.

"Have you ever seen a dragon in the sky? Although real flying dragons don’t exist, a huge dragon-shaped aurora developed in the sky over Iceland earlier this month," the space agency said in a post.

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(NASA)

NASA added: "The aurora was caused by a hole in the Sun's corona that expelled charged particles into a solar wind that followed a changing interplanetary magnetic field to Earth's magnetosphere."

This dragon aurora is mysterious because it appeared during a time of low sunspot activity, according to NASA, which means the Sun is not emitting as many charged particles as it normally does.