25 most impressive Northern Lights photos of 2023

Photos of the Northern Lights taken in locations never before captured in the "Northern Lights Photographer of the Year" award .

Green northern lights display on Sukakpak Mountain, part of the Brooks Mountains in Alaska, USA. The work of photographer Nickolas Warner.

French photographer Vincent Beudez captured this neon light beam in Tromsø, Norway.

Photo of the bright yellow and red aurora over Moke Lake in New Zealand by photographer Jordan McInally.

This brilliant red solar event, photographed by William Preite over the Dolomites in Italy, is actually called a steady red auroral arc (SAR) , an event even rarer than the aurora borealis. SARs form when oxygen molecules in Earth's upper atmosphere are overheated by the large electrical ring surrounding our planet.

"Double arc" photo by photographer Giulio Cobianchi. Clear skies and a moonless night with aurora borealis visible only to the north over the Lofoten Islands in Norway.

Photographer Josh Beames captured the aurora borealis, also known as the southern lights, at Bakers Oven, Australia.

Photographer Mathew Browne captured the rare phenomenon of the UK's aurora borealis on Paxton Tower in Wales.

Photographer Virgil Reglioni captured the work during a geomagnetic storm on a mountaintop in Ottertinden, Norway. The team climbed a 47-degree incline in temperatures of minus 5 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 21 degrees Celsius) to get the surreal image.

Germany's Wadden Sea National Park is an unusual southern location for aurora borealis, but photographer Laura Oppelt was able to capture this burst of light on September 25, 2023.

This breathtaking 300-degree panorama, showing the sun setting in a powerful aurora display, was captured by photographer Alex Wides on Senja Island in Norway.

Taken from the lowest elevation in the US, this purple aurora was captured by photographer Kenneth LeRose in Death Valley, California.

Photographer Kat Lawman captured this rare aurora borealis over Wales, UK.

The bright red and yellow colors of the Southern Lights were captured by photographer Jason Perry in April 2023 in Tasmania, Australia.

After chasing the aurora for more than a week, Stefano Pellegrini captured this stunning aurora vortex in Gatklettur, Iceland.

This purple and green aurora dance was captured by photographer Elena Ermolina on Russia's Kola Peninsula.

Michigan native Justin Miller photographed this northern lights display on a farm in Glen Arbor.

Photographed in March 2023 by MaryBeth Kiczenski, this Alaskan ice cave collapsed during the summer, making this view of the aurora borealis from inside truly one of a kind.

Taken on a lesser-known beach in Lofoten, Norway called "Vikten" , photographer Filip Hrebenda captured this winding aurora, which resembles "green snakes".

Canadian photographer Kristine Rose captured this aurora along with its reflection in Nova Scotia.

Photographer Frøydis Dalheim captured this winter scene in Lappland, Finland on a March 2023 night with temperatures near minus 22 F (minus 30 C).

Richard Zheng photographed the purple aurora on the Dunedin Peninsula in New Zealand. The photo shows the Large Magellanic Cloud in the upper right corner, the Colloid Nebula as a red mass in the upper left, and the Carina Nebula below.

This blue light geyser was photographed by Luis Cajete on Iceland's Haifoss Falls.

Photographer Lukas Moesch "had a magical encounter with a rare white reindeer (a sign of good luck)" on his way to capture this northern lights moment in Tromsø, Norway.

This photo by Paul Wilson, taken from Camp Saddle in Canterbury, New Zealand, shows the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds next to the auroras, galaxies visible only in the Southern Hemisphere.

This green swirl was photographed by Marc Marco Ripoll on Mt. Kirkjufell, Iceland, located on the Snæfellsnes peninsula.