Spellbinding Northern Lights Colors Astound Alaska Photographer (Images)

Aurora Over Alaska — Astrophotographer Dora Miller sent in a photo of an auroral display over Alaska, taken April 20, 2014. Miller is based in Talkeetna, AK. (Image credit: Dora Miller/www.AuroraDora.com)

The northern lights dance in a breathtaking display of purples and green in these stunning images by a night sky photographer in Alaska.

Astrophotographer Dora Miller of Talkeetna, Alaska captured the dazzling aurora images on April 20 during a nighttime photo session that she won't forget anytime soon.

"A very intense and colorful show of northern lights happened last night here in Alaska," Miller wrote in an email to Space.com. "I have been shooting auroras for many years but last night was a mind-blower." [See more amazing northern lights photos of 2014]

Astrophotographer Dora Miller sent in a photo of an auroral display over Alaska, taken April 20, 2014. (Image credit: Dora Miller/www.AuroraDora.com)

Have You Ever Seen the Northern Lights or Southern Auroras?

The particles are drawn to Earth's polar regions by the planet's magnetic field resulting in aurora borealis, or northern lights, and its southern counterpart the aurora australis, or southern lights.

Editor's note: If you have an amazing night sky photo you'd like to share for a possible story or image gallery, please contact managing editor Tariq Malik at spacephotos@space.com.

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Nina Sen is a frequent contributor to Live Science’s Life’s Little Mysteries series: an exploration and explanation of our world’s phenomena, both natural and man-made. She also writes astronomy photo stories for Live Science's sister site Space.com.