2025 Northern Lights Photographer of the Year Winners Capture Stunning Aurora Shots

Marc Rassel, a resident of Minnesota, was guiding a mother and a daughter on their “bucket list trip” to Fairbanks when he ended up capturing “one of the most intense auroral displays” he had ever seen. Whorls of electric green light were rising from a field of snow and pine silhouettes, twisting and spiraling in patterns so impressive, Rassel named it “Auroral Cinnamon Roll.” He captured this sight in a photograph that, eventually, turned out to be one of the 25 best images included in the list of 2025’s Northern Lights Photographer of the Year contest, organized by Capture the Atlas.

This was the eighth edition of the contest that the travel photography blog, Capture the Atlas, publishes each December at the peak of aurora season. Commenting on his experience, Rassel exclaimed that “This night was one that I will be thinking about for a long time.” He explained that the aurora was triggered by a geomagnetic storm that caused Earth’s magnetic field lines to twist, bend, and oscillate across the sky, generating striking displays of glowing light. Travis D. Amick, another winner from Sun Valley, Idaho, was already anticipating this aurora, but not so dramatic though.

He reached a tranquil pool in Ketchum to capture the aurora. Initially, all he could spot was a faint auroral glow, but then there was an “explosion of color” and the “brightest naked-eye red flares” he had ever seen. His photograph “Auroral Reflections” likens to what a primeval aurora would have looked like on Earth when no humans were there. A lake is acting as a clear mirror reflecting the colors dancing in the sky. Flanked by silhouettes of mountains, the lake’s waters are painted in gradient swatches of pink, purple, magenta, faint orange, and lime green, with streaks of white light bursting through the swatches. Up above, clusters of foamy white clouds are filtering the view of aurora with added texture. Amick called it a “fleeting moment of awe.”

Another remarkable photograph in the list is “Frozen Silence Beneath the Lights” by Nikki Born. Captured in Riisitunturi National Park, Finland, the photograph unleashes a wave of goosebumps in first glance. Like silent guardians of a mysterious world, Riisitunturi’s famous frozen trees loom towards the sky, their shadows casting patterns on the smooth snow-covered field. In the backdrop appears a velvety blanket, dotted with the dim glitter of diamond-like stars, and pulsing with vivid hues of glassy green, emulsifying with curtains of cranberry purple and royal blue.

“Photographing the Northern Lights demands patience and persistence, but when they finally appear, time stands still, and nature reminds you just how amazing our world can be,” Born remarked. Quite similar to the auroral display in Born’s image, “Aurora Comet Lemmon” by Petr Horálek in Skaulo, Sweden, exhibits a show of purples and greens, except that this one also has a dazzling streak of C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) Comet that flitted across the northern skies on October 24. Another image, by Roi Levi shows a spectacular crown of silky colors bursting in the sky above the meditative green waters of a lagoon in Kirkjufell, Iceland.

From “Speechless” by Ralf Rohner to “The Northern Crown” by Mari Jääskeläinen, from “Neon Nightfall” by Andres Papp to “Guardians of the Aurora” by Daniel Mickleson, each winning photograph has its own mind, its own narrative of how a fleet of excited photons from the Sun slamming into tiny molecules on Earth can give rise to spectacles that cannot be painted even by the finest artists.

Some of these photos, Forbes noted, were captured from the least expected places, including from high-altitude commercial flight, and with the most unanticipated equipment, like smartphone cameras.

More on Green Matters

Man Captures Stunning Video of 'Aurora Rush' Glowing Bright Green Across the Sky

Stunning Northern Lights Display May Light Up the Sky This Week — See if Your State Is Included

Two New X-Flares From the Sun Increase Chances for Northern Lights Sightings Nationwide This Week