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NORTHERN LIGHTS

Science News

Auroral lights

Click through stunning images of the auroral displays created by geomagnetic storms.

/ 14 PHOTOS
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St. Patrick's Day green

The aurora borealis, or northern lights, fill the early morning sky on March 17, 2013, above the Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary, a Russian Orthodox Church in Kenai, Alaska.

M. Scott Moon / AP
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Snowy landscape

The northern lights glow over a snowy Finnish landscape in a photo taken on the night of Jan. 16-17, 2013, by Thomas Kast.

Watch the time-lapse video on Vimeo.

Thomas Kast
Image: Swirls of green and red appear in an aurora over Whitehorse, Yukon

Starry night

Swirls of green and red appear in an aurora over Whitehorse in Canada's Yukon Territory on the night of Sept. 3, 2012. The northern lights were sparked by a storm of electrically charged particles that was thrown off by the sun on Aug. 31.

Handout / X80001
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View from above

NASA astronaut Joe Acaba, flight engineer of the Expedition 32 crew onboard the International Space Station, recorded this image of Aurora Australis, also known as the Southern Lights, on July 15, 2012, from an altitude of approximately 240 miles.The Canadarm2 robot arm is in the foreground.

Joe Acaba / NASA
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Summer delight

Robert Snache, a photographer living in the Rama First Nation in Ontario, captured this view of the northern lights on the night of July 8-9, 2012. For more about Snache and his work, check out Spirithands Photography on Facebook.

Robert Snache
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Norwegian lights

Thorbjørn Haagensen took this picture of the northern lights on April 3, 2012, from Hillesøy, close to Tromsø in northern Norway. The winter season is prime time for auroral displays, but with the onset of spring, the northern lights begin to pale up north. "Beginning in the middle of May, the midnight sun brings sunshine all night long," Haagensen said.

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Heavenly glow

Jonina Oskarsdottir captured this picture of the northern lights on March 8, 2012, over Faskrudsfjordur, Iceland. "No words can describe the experience of the northern lights tonight," Oskarsdottir told SpaceWeather.com. She used a Canon EOS 5D Mark II camera to take the shot, with a Canon 14mm f/2.8L USM II lens set for ISO 1600 ... and a 1-second exposure.

Jonina Oskardottir / AP
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Alaskan green

The skies over the frozen Susitna River near Talkeetna, Alaska, are lit up by a display of the northern lights on Jan. 23, 2012. The aurora was enhanced by solar flares in the days preceding the event.

Michael Dinneen / FRE 7726ap
Image: The Northern Lights are seen above the ash plume of Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano in the evening

Spectral scene

It's almost as if these two separate events of nature were fuming at each other. The northern lights are seen above the ash plume of Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano on the evening of April 22, 2010.

Lucas Jackson / X90066
The magnetic solar storm arranged a colo

Halloween treat

A geomagnetic storm produced a colorful show of aurora borealis in the skies over Hyvinka in southern Finland on the morning of Oct. 31, 2003.

Pekka Sakki / AFP
Image: Image: Perseid and aurora

Majestic mountains and sky

The colors of sunrise and the northern lights add to this view of a Perseid meteor streak on Aug. 12, 2000, as seen from the Colorado Rockies.

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Graceful ballet of light

The northern lights dance over the Knik River near Palmer, Alaska, on Nov. 29, 2006.

Bob Martinson / AP
Aurora

Otherworldly feel

John Carlson of Lutsen, Minn., said he was "surprised by the intense activity of the aurora" on Aug. 29, 2008. He took this beautiful but eerie photograph.

John Carlson
NORTHERN LIGHTS

Midwestern dazzle

Northern lights are shown above a covered bridge at Wilkinson Pioneer Park in Rock Falls, Iowa, on Nov. 7, 2004.

Arian Schuessler / MASON CITY GLOBE GAZETTE
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