WunderPhotos®

WOW! Awsome for the firsts!LOVE THAT YELLOW GLOW!!! Can't answer you for the circles though, try to clean your len, maybe it will dissapear.

Wow, thrilling. I choose to imagine that the circles are part of the wonderous show!

I sure don't know what caused it either Nancy, but you came to the right place to ask! I have no doubt someone will have your answer, I'll bet this, and the other photo get LOTS of attention!

Wow Very fabulous image. Sorry I cannot answer your question, but hopefully someone more knowledgeable will see it, and let you know. I'm anxious to know also, so will check back later.
Update; Congrats on the VIP!

Congratulations Nancy on the VIP!

Circles look caused by interference patterns.

The lights have very monochromatic colors, and if your lens has internal reflections, it may be causing this. It could also be the lens coatings. It is too precise not to be something part of the lens/camera. NOT natural phenomena.

A couple of WOW pictures in this series, Nancy. The idea about the rings being part of the camera kind of makes sense to me.

Great capture of the northern lights. I suspect you have a filter on the lens, take it off for long exposure shots. Hope that fixes the issue, then you can shoot more of these great photos for those of us living too far south to view in person.

I asked my camera expert and he said that you've got a filter (skylight filter) on your lens and that is what's causing the artifact. He said you don't want any filter at all. Other than that, beautiful photo, Nancy!!!! Thank you so much for sharing.

Beautiful pictures.

Great capture, would love to see this wonderful show myself.
A possible answer to your question-
I am an engineer and our main customers is a movie camera lens manufacturer (Cooke optics)
nearly all of the internal surfaces that can be seen if looking through the front of any lens are covered in small radial grooves, they are there to prevent unwanted light reflecting down the lens at the incorrect angle. they have a precise angle, pitch, depth and radius.
It looks like you may have an issue with these. If it happens again and its not some weird anomaly contact the lens manufacturer and check with them.
hope that helps.

You probably have your skylight filter on the lens. They are spun when manufactured and the result is concentric circles. Remove the filter if you have it on. Nice photos, by the way! The Auroras were great Friday night into Saturday.

Great display !!!

Definitely a wow pic! On my list to see someday.

wow~

I would love to see something like this with my own eyes. Thank you for sharing these fantastic photos wildernessgirl.

My two cents: The pattern you see in the middle of the picture looks very much like "Newton's rings," and are caused by a very thin air film between a convex surface (such as that on an internal positive lens) and a plane glass surface; the surfaces can also be in contact at a point. As liquidsquid points out, you see them when the incident light is very monochromatic; if you see them in all pictures, there is probably an issue with the internal coatings.

Super shot!