At dusk on March 23/24, 2002 the sky erupted with an amazing display of the aurora borealis―the northern lights. These waves of color danced above the moonlit Talkeetna Mountains northeast of Alaska's Denali National Park, producing a truly remarkable night of sky watching. The scene was so expansive that it required seven overlapping wide-angle photos digitally stitched together to capture it all.

The overexposed gibbous moon appears at top center; to its right lies the constellation Gemini with its two main stars Castor and Pollux just to the moon's right. The bright planet Jupiter lies at the constellation's feet to the lower right of the moon. On the left side appears the constellation Leo. Near the horizon just to the right of center appears the constellation Orion; to its lower left lies the bright star Sirius, and to its upper left the constellation Taurus and the Pleiades star cluster.

On the right side appears the constellation Perseus and, just above the mountains of the Alaska Range and behind the light green plume on the right lies Comet Ikeya-Zhang (though it's not possible to see at the image size on this page).

You don't truly know the majesty and beauty of nature until you experience the aurora borealis for yourself... join me in Alaska next month to view and photograph the greatest light show on Earth! 

●   Date:  March 23/24, 2002
●  Photo details:  Canon F-1 body, Canon 24mm f/1.4L lens, Fuji Provia 400F, seven 12-second exposures at f/2 (estimated)
●   Processing details:  NikonScan 3.1.0, Noise Ninja 2.3.2, PTGui Pro 7.2, Photoshop CS2
●   Location:  Broad Pass (MP201 George Parks Hwy), Alaska, USA