Dancing Lights

Aurora is a master artist of nature, with its ever changing forms and colors painted by dancing lights on the night sky of polar areas. In this sequence from Lapland in northern Sweden, each scene is less than a minute apart from the other, showing the dynamic of a strong aurora display. Aurora is produced by the collision of high-energy charged particles, originated from the sun, with atoms and molecules of Earth’s atmosphere (at altitudes above 80 km). When aurora is very active as captured in these photos its most beautiful form known as aurora corona (crown) appears near the zenith. Its form can appear to boil with motion, its colors can range across the entire spectrum and, when bright, it can easily cast a shadow. 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.