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The northern lights, captured on film Photos of the aurora borealis.
The northern lights fill the sky over the south shore of Lake Superior east of Superior, Wis., above Duluth, Minn., on July 15, 2012. A solar storm sparked the spectacular northern lights display in the skies over the Upper Midwest.
Andrew Krueger
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AP
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Northern Lights illuminate the sky over Lake Elora in northern Minnesota early Sunday morning, July 15, 2012.
Brian Peterson
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AP
Northern lights illuminate the sky over a cabin on Lake Elora in northern Minnesota early Sunday morning, July 15, 2012.
Brian Peterson
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AP
The largest solar storm in five years sent a huge wave of radiation into Earth's atmosphere, creating a brilliant show of the aurora borealis near Yellowknife, North West Territories, on March 8, 2012. Yellowknife, which is directly under the auroral "oval," has some of the best northern lights viewing in the world. Truckers returning from the diamond mines 205 miles northeast enjoyed the nighttime spectacle as they cruised down the ice road on Prosperous Lake.
Bill Braden
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AP
A picture taken late on March 7, 2012, of northern lights in Abisko, Swedish Lapland. The strongest space weather storm in five years struck Earth on March 8, 2012, causing some airlines to reroute flights, threatening power disruptions and sparking a show of the northern lights. NASA and other agencies warned that the storm had the potential to disrupt global positioning systems, satellites and power grids, and had already caused some air carriers to change planes' polar flight paths. However, the Earth's magnetic field appeared to absorb the brunt of the shock.
Francois Campredon
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AFP/Getty Images
The aurora borealis, or northern lights, are seen near the city of Tromsoe, northern Norway, late Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012. Stargazers were out in force in northern Europe on Tuesday, hoping to be awed by a spectacular showing of northern lights after the most powerful solar storm in six years.
Rune Stoltz Bertinussen
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AP
"Star Trails Over Russian Church" Ninilchik Village, Alaska
This unusual view of the Russian Orthodox Church, located in Ninilchik on Alaska's Kenai Peninsula, is acquired using a long exposure. Due to the Earth's rotation during the four hours required for this image, the stars have trailed part way around the sky and have left their images as streaks of light on the film. The "North Star", Polaris, is at the center of their circular motion due to its proximity directly over the Earth's North Pole. The auroa borealis remained just a glow on the northern horizon and is seen as the yellowish-greenish glow that paints the horizon. It is auroras such as this that can be simply mistaken for lights of a distant city.
Copyright Dennis Anderson
"Breakup at Talkeetna" Talkeetna, Alaska
As the aurora grew in strength wolves began to howl. I heard a loud chorus from half a dozen or more off in the woods in front of me and had to answer with a hoot of my own as I too could not contain meself at the sight before me. This incredible breakup was "early" in the evening at around 11:30 P.M. local time. It was the most intense of many waves of activity throughout this crystal clear night of viewing on which the aurora was visible from 8:00 in the evening until after &:00 in the morning.
Copyright Dennis Anderson
"Fade to Black" Denali State Park, Alaska
A magnificent auroral curtain shines with the iridescent-like colors of mother of pearl as it slowly crosses the sky from west to east in this view looking north. Tall paralell rays, shaped by the Earth's magnetic field, reach into the distance above a stand of poplars. The upper parts of the aurora, streaching for hundreds of miles into space, are now in direct sunlight where they are transformen into beautiful shades of violet and blue as nitrogen molocules extract extra energy from the light. The full moon, now low in the west also adds its reflected sunlight to this effect. The lovely green coloring is formed a bit lower by ionized oxygen atoms at about 50 to 100 miles high.
Copyright Dennis Anderson
"Spirit of Ecstacy" Homer, Alaska
The aurora borealis, tonight in the form of a mythical winged creature, approached from the north and west and began to fill the sky with brilliant colors reserved for the rarest occasions. It had come in fits and waves starting early in the evening but after a long lull between 1:30 a.m and now, around 4:00 most aurora observers had turned in for the night maybe thinking the show was over or maybe just too tired for more but I am glad now that I had persisted. The early morning display is seen here at start of a fantastic crowning display that lasted over 20 minutes. The red is just forming in the west in preparation for the spectacular overhead surge eastward.
Copyright Dennis Anderson
"On the Edge of Darkness" Homer, Alaska
August is an exciting time of year at 60 degrees north as darkness begins to return after a short summer of long days. With the return of dark nights we also have the return of our aurora season. In this view looking to the north, we see tall rays of the aurora reaching up out of the Earth's shadow and into direct sunlightwhere they are transformed into a beautiful shade of blue-violet. It is nitrogen molocules high in the atmosphere that recieve an extra boost of energy from the Sun's rays that produce this amazing color. Below, the green light of oxygen atoms seems to dance among the treetops while flowing along in eddies and currents of the Earth's ever changing magnetic field. Low on the horizon we see a rare display of noctilucent clouds. These mysterious clouds are so high, about 50 miles altitude, that they are able to catch and reflect the sun's light even though it is night here on the ground. Smoke from the summers many forest fires still raging to the north, paints the clouds with a reddish tinge - nature's warming filter.
Copyright Dennis Anderson
"Incredible Journey" Talkeetna, Alaska
It was just a metter of several yards to negotiate from my vehicle to the shore of the lake but what an incredible journey it turned out to be! It was just after midnight local time and I was standing a few feet above the water looking east across the lake, one of many in the Talkeetna area. The aurora was displaying some of the most prominent reddish fringe on its underside that I have ever witnessed. This type of reddish color on the bottom of a normal green aurora is called nitrogen fringing. It is the result of very energetic particles penetrating the Earth's atmosphere deeper than any other type of aurora. This fringing, produced by the excitation of nitrogen molocules, can be seen as a pinkish or light lavender to a deep reddish or maroon, takes place at an altitude of 35 to 40 miles on its underside. This is as close to the ground as any aurora ever gets.The beautiful auroral display is joined by the bright moon, the planet Saturn and stars all reflected in the mirror surface of this lake on a still night with absolutely no wind.
Copyright Dennis Anderson
"Treetop Crowning" Talkeetna, Alaska
This beautiful example of a crowning aurora was photographed from under the forest canopy from near Talkeetna just after midnight. I was making my way through the dark woods down to a lake when I decided to look up. A crowning aurora, or corona, is visible when the aurora swings through an observer's magnetic zenith whichis located nearly straight overhead. Looking up at the paralell rays of an aurora gives one the impression that the aurora eminates from this spot. In fact, this is an illusion of perspective similar to looking down a set of railroad tracks. Even though they seem to merge in the distance, they still retian their separation in reality. It is the fact that these rays are very long starting at bout 50 miles high and extending a hundred miles or more into space that creates the perspective.
Copyright Dennis Anderson
"Andromeda Mist" Gulkana River, Central Alaska Range
The aurora borealis was putting on a fine show dancing across the northern sky above the Alaska Range seen in the distance. A cow and calf moose had left their tracks in the fresh snow earlier before crossing the stream on their way to graze the other side. The mist rising from the river was decieving as it was a cold ice fog and not because the water was warm. The temperatures in this area had fallen to minus 25 degrees (F) and it caused the water vapor to freeze to the willow along the bank and anything or else including cameras and photographers as well.
Copyright Dennis Anderson
"Dawn's Early Light" Denali State Park, Alaska
Dawn comes early for Denali. The Alaska Range of Denali National Park features several of North America's highest peaks including the very tallest, Mount Mckinley at 20,320 feet. Mckinley is seen here at the right, rising above the darkness to catch the dawn's earliest light. The mysterious northern lights are seen as a gentle arc rising from the northwest and off toward the east. It is sending up faint flickering flames of gentle light as it cools off after a night of furious activity. This green light is reflected off the Chulitna River in the foreground while the stars have not quite gone to bed yet. Their twinkling light can be seen peppering an indigo sky. To acquire this image I used a 4x5 large format camera with a 150mm lens and Fuji Provia 100F film. This film size is about 12 times the size of 35mm and is the digital equivelent of 150 megs. This provides tremendous detail un-achievable with anything less.
Copyright Dennis Anderson
"Aurora Over the Aalaska Range" Talkeetna, Alaska
The tallest peaks of the Central Aalska Range are visible on the horizon about 60 miles distant. They include from left to right; Mount Foraker at 17,400 feet, Mount Hunter at 14, 473 feet and North America's most lofty peak, Mount McKinley at 20,320 feet above sea level. As tall as these peaks are, that the aurora seems to touch them is only an illision of line of sight. The aurora is actually many times higher with its lower borders around 50 miles or more. When we see an aurora on the horizon it is actually hundreds of miles distant.
Copyright Dennis Anderson
"Ion Butterfly" Captain Cook State Park, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
Fantastic colors were produced in a spectacular show that was visible on this night in many parts of the globe as far south as Mexico and Cuba. The eruption of a "super flare" on our sun sent a barrage of charged particles Earthward that resulted in the most intense shock-front ever recorded. The subsiquent geomagnetic storm and subsiquent auroral display was, for many, a once in a lifetime look at this beautiful natural phenomenon.
Copyright Dennis Anderson
"Last Call for the Aurora"
Late May crowning aurora from near Homer, Alaska.
Copyright Dennis Anderson
"Colored Sky of August" Southern Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
Illiamna and Redoubt volcanos can be seen in silhoette on the distant horizon in contrast to the strong twilight of a summer evening after sunset. I say evening but it is actually past midnight. The air is still over the waters of Cook Inlet. The air is still but not the sky. The sky is restless with the energy of a powerful aurora. Pink, purple, greens and reds are painting an already nice sunset with even more color. The moon rose full tonight and only the brightest stars are visible on this night with no darkness. It is August and the fireweed is still in bloom. Salmon are running the streams and summer is not over. Heavy coats are still a month or so away but the aurora season on the Kenai Peninsula is already in full swing.
Copyright Dennis Anderson
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