Instagram magic: Spectacular Northern Lights dance across Swedish skies

Social media are awash with pictures of the natural phenomenon, also known as the Aurora Borealis, that has been lighting up skies in places like Umeå and Kiruna in the past few days.

But before you scroll through them, here's our guide to how to take your own pictures of the Northern Lights.

This timelapse video shot on Friday really captures the magic:

Here's one by Monica Fallgren taken just outside of Kiruna in the far north of Sweden:

And this one shows the stunning phenomenon lighting up the sky above Luleå on the east coast:

“It's almost winter for real now,” commented Instagram user Evelina, which after seeing pictures of the snowfall in northern Sweden earlier this week we find it hard to argue with.

This one was taken by Magnus Nyberg at the Bergudden Lighthouse on an island near Umeå:

And it's hard to beat this one by Niklas Hjort in Abisko. In the background you can see the iconic u-shaped valley known as the Lapponian Gate (or Čuonjávággi, which means 'goose valley', in Northern Sami):

Did you manage to take any pictures of the Northern Lights? Send them to [email protected].