Green and Purple Aurora Colors Alaskan Skies (Photo)

Astrophotographer John Chumack took this image from mountains about 60 miles east of Fairbanks, Alaska on March 19, 2015 while leading his annual aurora tour and workshop. (Image credit: John Chumack/GalacticImages.com)

Wisps of green light swim through purple skies in this stunning image of the aurora borealis.

Astrophotographer John Chumack took this image from a mountain location about 60 miles (96 kilometers) east of Fairbanks, Alaska, on March 19, 2015, while leading his annual aurora tour and workshop.

"The aurora can get so bright that it can cast shadows and changes the color of the snow," Chumack wrote in an email to Space.com. "Yes, mint green, red, or purple snow!"

Auroras are caused by charged particles from the sun (the solar wind) that interact with the Earth's atmosphere at altitudes above 50 miles (80 km). 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.

Chumack used a 6 second exposure, @ ISO 3200, Canon 6D DSLR, 24 mm lens. The image also shows the M45 Pleiades star cluster and the planet Venus.

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Nina Sen is a freelance writer and producer who covered night sky photography and astronomy for Space.com. She began writing and producing content for Space.com in 2011 with a focus on story and image production, as well as amazing space photos captured by NASA telescopes and other missions. Her work also includes coverage of amazing images by astrophotographers that showcase the night sky's beauty.