Mine 2 in the Longyear valley against the clear polar night. Lights from Longyearbyen, which have a green tinge, illuminate the side of the valley. The bright spot is a Christmas tree.

Nybyen is seen at the bottom to the right. The town is the only light source.

Nybyen with Larsbreen (a glacier) behind bathed in moonlight, looking south. Blurred aurora borealis clearly shines through the sky which already is well illuminated by the Moon off the right edge of the picture.

The picture is taken close to the museum at Skjæringa looking north-east. The mountains which are seen on the other side of the Advent fjord are partly illuminated by the town and partly illuminated by the low Moon in the East behind a thin layer of clouds.

View of the centre of Longyearbyen. The exposure time was one minute. The town slightly illuminates the mountains seen approximately 5km behind it, but the shadows are cause by the moonlight. The mountains were just faintly visible with the naked eye. The half-moon was 11° above the horizon, too low to be visible within the town.

Skjæringa is to the right in the picture. The smoke comes from the coal based power station which serves as an excellent wind gauge.

Longyearbreen (a glacier) is to the right in the picture. The circle is a reflection in the lense caused by the Moon. The picture was taken when the Moon was about (12:34am) to to occult Aldebaran, a bright star in Taurus, but the Moon was far too bright for it to be visible on the picture.

Moonlight. (4", f/5·6, 200ASA)

Daytime aurora borealis, characteristic with its streaks going in an east/west direction. A 20-25 second exposure taken 12:45pm. This is the picture from the archive at Nordlysstasjonen in Adventdalen (5km away) closest to my picture with regard to time.

More aurora borealis.

Even more aurora borealis over Longyearbyen. The aurora isn't extensive, but bright.

The Big Dipper in the north-west (taken around 1:45pm).

The western side of the Longyear valley. The long exposure time makes the valley side appear well illuminated, and in combination with the starlit sky in the background the landscape seems almost as it were without an atmosphere.

More from the western side of the Longyear valley.

Longyearbreen in moonlight.

View of the Advent fjord. The Moon illuminates the mountains, while the town lights shine on the fjord.

Another view over the Advent fjord. Only the stars, which shine through a thin layer of haze, seem to reveal that this picture with an exposure time of almost a minute is taken during the polar night.

The EISCAT radar at mine 7.

Longyearbyen around noon.

The tiny Svalbard reindeer. Funken Hotell in the background.

A well known sign at the airport.

Another sign, in Adventdalen. There are probably not very many of its kind in the world. As a proper tourist I let myself be photographed beside it.

Mushing. There was some auroral activity also on this day. This is what the sky looked like during the mush (from the archive at Nordlysstasjonen).

The archipelago
of Svalbard