Timelapse: Incredible Northern Lights from the Arctic Circle

By Nancy Atkinson - December 13, 2012 05:16 PM UTC | Planetary Science

Shot from the Arctic Circle in Canada, this beautiful display of the Aurora Borealis will put you in the holiday mood (I'm sure Santa's workshop is just beyond one of those mountains in the background!) National Geographic photographer

Mike Theiss

said the northern lights started around 11:30pm and continued on until around 3am. "The lights were dancing, rolling and twisting and at times looked like they were close enough to touch," he said.

Just beautiful.

Read more about his Arctic Circle adventure

here.

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Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com