Aurora Borealis, Acadia National Park, Maine, 2005

Darkness settles over Jordan Pond in Maine's Acadia National Park as northern lights swirl above. "It was my last night in Acadia, and I was setting up for a long exposure of starlight in the night sky," recalls photographer Michael Melford, "and this brilliant red aurora appeared. I was in a panic to make sure I caught it."

(Text from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Autumn in Acadia National Park," November 2005, National Geographic magazine)

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