The Northern and Southern Lights put on quite a show this year – and some of the world’s most talented photographers were on hand to capture them in all their dazzling glory.

As we reveal. 

Here we present the best aurora pictures taken around the world in 2023, as carefully chosen by the travel and photography blog Capture the Atlas. The images feature in the blog’s Northern Lights Photographer of the Year collection, which it presents each year to ‘inspire and share the beauty of this natural phenomenon’.

This year’s impressive selection was captured by 25 photographers from across the globe, with images snapped by 13 different nationalities.

Dan Zafra, editor of Capture the Atlas, curates these photos throughout the year. He looks not only for images taken by some of the most renowned photographers, but also for new talent, and for new locations where incredible aurora images are rare.

Capture the Atlas said: ‘We are seeing Northern Lights displays at lower latitudes and aurora images in unique places where they haven’t been photographed before. In this edition, we have aurora images [taken] in Wales, Germany, Italy’s Dolomites, mainland Australia, and even Death Valley National Park.’  And here they are in all their natural glory, scroll down to see the full collection…