Top Photos of the 2025 Northern Lights Photography Contest: The Magic of the Night Sky

Watching the Northern or Southern Lights is unforgettable, but photographing them is another challenge. Capturing these luminous ribbons twisting and dancing across the darkest winter skies creates surreal, magical scenes. In 2025, peak solar activity lit up skies around the world, and the eighth Aurora Photographer of the Year contest collected extraordinary images. Here are 12 of the best.

Lights and Ice | New Zealand – Taken in New Zealand’s Mount Cook National Park, the Southern Lights lit the sky as the photographer entered an ice cave.

Polar Rain | Norway – In Norway, the aurora’s green and red crown rained down like a celestial shower.

Frozen Silence Beneath the Lights | Finland – After hours in the cold at Finland’s Riisitunturi National Park, clouds parted to reveal a burst of green over icy trees.

Easterhorn Dreams | Iceland – A panoramic capture of fast-moving auroras reflecting in ponds, timed with a still breeze.

Aurora and Comet Lemon | Sweden – Sweden’s night sky featured the newly discovered comet “Lemon” alongside a vivid green aurora.

Northern Crown | Finland – Predicting solar winds, the photographer captured an aurora spiraling like a “Northern Crown” over the trees.

Neon Night | Estonia – On Estonia’s coast, purple and lime auroras blended with UV-lit rocks for a surreal effect.

Nightscape | Iceland – Taken with a smartphone, the Arctic Henge stone gates glow under red and green auroras.

Aurora Guardians | New Zealand – The “Three Sisters” rock formations stand like ancient guardians beneath pink and green Southern Lights.

An Autumn Night | Sweden – Reflections of auroras dance perfectly on the still waters of Lake Torntresk before it fully freezes.

Aurora Bouquet Over Godafoss | Iceland – After a cloudy day, pink and purple auroras appeared over the “Waterfall of the Gods.”

Green Light Cathedral | Iceland – Layered aurora arches above Skógafoss waterfall form a gateway to another world.

These images show how powerful geomagnetic storms turned the night sky into a cosmic canvas in 2025.