Northern Lights over Lapland, Finland

Northern Lights over Lapland, Finland

Photographer Yrjö Benson: "At 6:35 pm the sky suddenly was full of big, luminous, and fast moving auroras in the west, east and north. The show lasted for 20 minutes and was much bigger than forecasted. The location, Ylläsjärvi, is directly under the aurora oval, making it a perfect choice for aurora hunting."

Also known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), auroras are colorful, dynamic, and often visually delicate displays of an intricate dance of particles and magnetism between the Sun and Earth called space weather. When energetic particles from space collide with atoms and molecules in the atmosphere, they can cause the colorful glow that we call auroras.

Learn more about auroras: 
https://science.nasa.gov/sun/auroras/

Lapland is the largest and northernmost region of Finland, officially the Republic of Finland. Finland is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, opposite Estonia.

Image Credit: Yrjö Benson 
Location: Ylläsjärvi, Lapland, Finland
Image Date: Jan. 29, 2026 

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