There was a full moon the night these two images were captured. The moon was behind me, and reflected off the glacial snow illuminating the entire mountain. Then, fortunately, for just a few minutes, the aurora appeared. It is not "sharp points of light", but rather an amorphous ribbon or drape of material wavering as if in a wind. It dances momentarily and is gone. While predominately green, there can be shades of red as well. It is sometimes so diffuse as to merely seem like green dust in the air.

I was in Iceland for a week. Only one night did we see the aurora. Not only must there we solar radiation, but no cloud coverage as well. I consider myself fortunate to have witnessed such a celestial presentation.