Breath-taking Auroras

After several weeks with mostly cloudy and rainy weather here in the north, the sky cleared up tonight and revealed one of the most spectacular and colourful displays of northern lights that I have seen in a long while.

Now that solar maximum is approaching, it is likely that the coming months will be filled with truly spectacular auroras that may extend far south of the Arctic circle. Already last season, auroras could be seen as far south as France and Italy in southern Europe and in the southern states of the US.

One of the many photos I took during the night shows a lonely tree clad in orange autumn colours and was selected by NASA today as the best Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD)

All the photos below are taken during the night 19-20 September on one of the islands off the north Norwegian coast close to Tromsø - for more aurora photos - check out the web-site Northern Lights Photography

I wish you all clear skies and hope to see you under the auroras some day!