Emerging Colors

The northern lights or aurora borealis in the night sky of Lofoten Islands, Norway. Aurora, which is mostly seen from polar latitudes is produced by the collision of charged particles from Earth’s magnetosphere, mostly electrons but also protons and heavier particles, with atoms and molecules of Earth’s atmosphere (at altitudes above 80 km). The particles originate from the Sun and reach the Earth in the stream of solar wind. Click on the second photo to see the TWAN photographer’s self portrait under the aurora-filled sky.