Shimmering curtains of light adorn the night sky over Alaska. Known as the aurora borealis, or northern lights, these displays are created when charged particles from the sun interact with gases in Earth's atmosphere.

An aurora creates streamers of light over Canada's Yukon Territory. Auroras are most commonly seen at high latitudes because solar particles follow Earth's magnetic field lines, and so they are funnelled toward the Poles.

Northern lights turn the sky green behind a church in Iceland.

Scotch pines stand against a sky filled with auroras in Gjenvollhytta, Norway.

The moon shines through a northern lights display seen from Laksefjorden in Norway.

Auroras hang in the night sky over Canada's Northwest Territories.

Auroras can be different colours depending on the types of gases interacting with solar particles and the height of the atmospheric layer involved.

A mountain peak juts into a view of the northern lights from the Vesteralen Islands of Norway.

Auroras seem to flow over a house in Nordland, Norway.

A man watches the northern lights above the city of Whitehorse in Canada's Yukon Territory.