Aurora borealis, Brooks Range, Alaska, USA

© Noppawat Tom Charoensinphon/Getty Image

Info. Aurora borealis

This spectacular aurora was photographed over the Brooks Range, a mountain range in far northern North America, stretching about 1,100 kilometres across northern Alaska into Canada's Yukon territory. The auroras – the aurora borealis (northern lights) in the Northern Hemisphere, and the aurora australis (southern lights) in the Southern Hemisphere – are brilliant natural light displays that can be seen in the night sky. They are caused by the same phenomenon: electrically charged solar winds interacting with magnetism at the Earth's North and South poles.