Amazing Photos Of Northern and Southern Lights

A long time ago, when our ancestors admired the beauty of the Northern and Southern Lights, they thought the lights were spirits or souls dancing in the sky.

Sometimes the lights were believed to be Gods or Goddesses appearing to mortals.

The Northern and Southern Lights caused a range of emotions in the people who witnessed then - alarm, fear, wonder, dread and excitement.

The red color was associated with legend or myths relating to blood - murder, death, armies, wars and suicide.

People did not understand what caused these amazing spectacles of lights in the sky. The phenomena of the Northern Lights were explained by different stories...

Aurora – The Struggle. This photographer noted, “I just liked how the aurora seemed to stop a the edge of the milky way at this location, as if the edge of the galaxy is playing referee to a battle in the sky.” Image credit:Carl Jones

Aurora Australis blankets the sky overhead of the 10-meter South Pole Telescope at Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, Antarctica. Like its more familiar counterpart, the Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights, the Aurora Australis is caused by the solar wind passing through the upper atmosphere. But the Aurora Australis is much less frequently observed because so few people live in Antarctica during the austral winter. Image credit: Keith Vanderlinde, National Science Foundation

Aurora.Image credit: Pete Lytwyniuk

Dancing Auroras. Image credit: Álfheiður Magnúsdóttir

Its southern counterpart, the aurora australis (or the southern lights), has almost identical features to the aurora borealis. The Southern Lights are visible from high southern latitudes in Antarctica, South America, New Zealand, and Australia.

Aurora Borealis – Northern Lights. Image credit: Gunnar Þór Gunnarsson

Aurora Borealis as seen from seen from Siilinjärvi, Image credit: Janne

This is the Aurora Australis, which dances through the sky virtually all the time during the long Antarctic night over Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. The photo’s surreal appearance makes the station look like a futuristic Mars Station. Image credit: Chris Danals, National Science Foundation

EIELSON AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska — The Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights, shines above Bear Lake. Photo #13 by United States Air Force photo by Senior Airman Joshua Strang