John Andersen Aurora Photo
A penguin in the northern lights (John Andersen)

Penguin Aurora by John Andersen

Can you look at this northern lights display and see a penguin?

Photo of the Week for August 30, 2019

Most people look up and see fanciful forms in clouds. Stargazers play a kind of connect-the-dots game to visualize constellations, or in the case of telescope users, to identify interesting shapes in asterisms. It’s all part of a natural human impulse to find patterns in chaos. However, it’s often the case that no two people see the same thing. Here’s an exception. Can you look at this northern lights display and not see a penguin? Of course, the literal minded will refuse to see such a thing, knowing full well that penguins are exclusively creatures of the southern hemisphere.

Penguin Aurora by John Andersen
A penguin in the northern lights (John Andersen)

John Andersen captured this nocturnal northern penguin on August 5, 2019, while photographing an unexpected auroral display from Peyto Lake, in Banff National Park, in western Alberta. John used a Canon EOS 6D DSLR camera and 15mm f/2.8 lens for this 3.2-second exposure at ISO 1600.