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Photography Articles (On my blog)

• How to Photograph the Northern Lights with a Digital Camera
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Northern Lights information ~ (Aurora borealis)

Photos, information and facts about the northern lights - scientifically referred to as the aurora borealis

All photos may be licensed as commercial stock photography or purchased as fine art decor pictures for your home or office.

Northern Lights photo gallery

Picture search

• Northern lights photos (all)

Photo Tour

• Arctic Alaska Photo Tour: Northern Lights, Polar bears and arctic landscapes
  Guided photo tour into Alaska's arctic with a focus on the Northern Lights and Arctic Polar bears. Guided by long time Alaskans and professional photographers Patrick J Endres and Hugh Rose.

Articles

• How to Photograph the Northern Lights
  Basic instructions and tips on how to photograph the northern lights with a digital camera. Where to go, how to dress, batteries, lens types, etc.

Northern Lights Forecast Web sites

• UAF Geophysical Institute
• Space Weather
• Solar Cycle 24

Definition of the Northern Lights (American Heritage Dictionary)

Northern Lights or Aurora: "A luminous atmospheric phenomenon appearing as streamers or bands of light sometimes visible in the night sky in northern or southern regions of the earth. It is thought to be caused by charged particles from the sun entering the earth's magnetic field and stimulating molecules in the atmosphere."

Colors and the Northern lights

• Red and Green-Oxygen: Light emitted by the Aurora tends to be dominated by emissions from atomic oxygen, resulting in a greenish glow and in the higher altitudes the red glow.

• Other colors-Nitrogen: Variations in color, especially those emitted by atomic and molecular nitrogen (blue and purple) vary quickly and result in dynamic movement in the aurora.

Encyclopedia: (Columbia University Press)

Northern Lights: "aurora borealis (bôr'ēăl'ĭs) and aurora australis (ôstrā'lĭs), luminous display of various forms and colors seen in the night sky.

The aurora borealis of the Northern Hemisphere is often called the northern lights, and the aurora australis of the Southern Hemisphere is known as the southern lights. Each is visible over an area centering around the geomagnetic pole of its own hemisphere.

The aurora borealis is said to occur with greatest frequency along a line extending through N Norway, across central Hudson Bay, through Point Barrow, Alaska, and through N Siberia. It is often visible in Canada and the N United States and is seen most frequently at the time of the equinoxes; in times of extreme activity, it may be seen in parts of the S United States.

Among the most magnificent of natural phenomena, auroral displays appear in shades of red, yellow, green, blue, and violet and are usually brightest in their most northern latitudes.

The aurora is seen in a variety of forms, e.g., as patches of light, in the form of streamers, arcs, banks, rays, or resembling hanging draperies.

The aurora occurs between 35 mi and 600 mi (56 km–970 km) above the earth. It is caused by high-speed electrons and protons from the sun, which are trapped in the Van Allen radiation belts high above the earth and then channeled toward the polar regions by the earth's magnetic field. These electrically charged particles enter the atmosphere and collide with air molecules (chiefly oxygen and nitrogen), thus exciting them to luminosity; near the 600-mile level, the light may be given off by electrons and protons combining to form hydrogen atoms.

The auroras coincide with periods of greatest sunspot activity and with magnetic storms (disturbances of the ionosphere which interfere with long-distance radio communication). "