Arctic Circle and North Pole Picture Gallery

Arctic Circle and North Pole Pictures: Polar Bear and Cub
Arctic Circle and North Pole Pictures: Killer Whale
Arctic Circle and North Pole Pictures: Eskimo Toddler and Kayak
Arctic Circle and North Pole Pictures: First North Pole Explorer
Arctic Circle and North Pole Pictures: First North Pole Expedition Members
Arctic Circle and North Pole Pictures: Sea Ice Surrounds Ship
Arctic Circle and North Pole Pictures: Northern Lights or Aurora Borealis
Arctic Circle and North Pole Pictures: Walrus on Ice
Arctic Circle and North Pole Pictures: Sunset in Bering Sea
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Arctic Circle and North Pole Pictures: Polar Bear and Cub
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The northern lights, or aurora borealis, seen near Juneau, Alaska.

The lights appear when electrically charged particles from the sun collide with air molecules over the Earth's magnetic poles. The charged particle streams are called solar wind. When solar activity is heavy, creating more solar wind, large and brilliant auroras result.

Read more about the Arctic and the North Pole.

See today's top stories from National Geographic News.

Photo gallery by Chelsea Lane-Miller
—Photograph by Cmdr. John Bortniak, NOAA Corps, courtesy NOAA Corps Collection
 

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