Stunning Astrophoto: The Aurora and the Fjord

By Nancy Atkinson - January 27, 2014 11:25 AM UTC | Observing

As compensation for the long, dark, cold winters near the Arctic Circle, residents sometimes get views like this. "We had some auroras on January 23rd, but with no movement," said astrophotographer Frank Olsen from Blokken, Norway. "The small fishing boat was moored just off the beach, and surrounded by green lights, it was pretty nice."

This is not a stacked photo, but a 13 second exposure. "Quite tricky to get the boat to lay still for 13 seconds!" Frank said.

You can see more of Frank's beautiful imagery of aurora, the night sky and more at

his Flickr page

his website

(he has prints for sale),

at G+

, or

his Facebook page.

Want to get your astrophoto featured on Universe Today? Join our Flickr group or send us your images by email (this means you're giving us permission to post them). Please explain what's in the picture, when you took it, the equipment you used, etc.

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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