Aurora Breakdown

Photographed by a full circle fisheye lens, the northern lights dominate the sky above this small Sami village in Lapland, northern Sweden. Click on the second photo to see a closer view of the aurora breakdown.

Aurora, which is mostly seen from polar latitudes, is also known as the northern or southern lights. There is a deep connection between people of the far north and these majestic lights. Sami people in Lapland traditionally believed that the northern lights were the energies of the souls of the departed. Some Eskimos described aurora as the dancing spirits. Some Indians in the North America described it as a fire in the far north, a reminder from the creator of the Earth.