In 2024-2025, there is a peak in solar activity, which directly affects the intensity and beauty of such a natural phenomenon as the northern lights. These photos were taken in the Kotlas district in the southeastern part of Arkhangelsk Oblast on the night of August 12-13, 2024. According to the author of the photos, this was the most active and brightest aurora he has ever seen.

Each northern light is unique. Sometimes they look like green stripes that encircle the night sky. Other times, the northern lights appear as a shimmering canopy or resemble a glowing fog. Their primary color is green, often with shades of pink around the edges and purple in the center. Photos by: Evgeny Smolsky.

amazingly strong northern lights

Tags: Arkhangelsk oblast

Kamchatka is a peninsula stretching from north to south for about 1,200 km in the northeast of Eurasia. From the west it is washed by the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, from the east – by the Bering Sea and the Pacific Ocean. Kamchatka Krai, one of the federal subjects of Russia, is located on the territory of the peninsula.

Kamchatka is a land of contrasts, which looks completely different from Central Russia. This is the land of volcanoes and glaciers, hot springs and boiling geysers, fast-flowing rivers, lakes and waterfalls. There are 414 glaciers and 160 volcanoes, 29 of which are active. Kamchatka volcanoes are included in the UNESCO World Heritage. Photos by: Sergey Makurin.

beautiful natural scenery

Tags: Kamchatka krai

Sarykum or Sary-Kum (translated from the Kumyk language as “Yellow Sand”) is the largest sand dune in Europe, located in the central part of the Republic of Dagestan, about 18 km northwest of Makhachkala. It is one of the largest sand dunes in Eurasia, approximately 3 km long, 2 km wide and up to 262 meters high.

The dune is located in a protected area, part of the Dagestan Nature Reserve, created on January 9, 1987. In 1968, several scenes of the famous Soviet movie “White Sun of the Desert” were filmed here. The Sarykum Sand Dune on Google Maps. Photos by: Slava Stepanov.

unique natural monument

Tags: Dagestan Republic · Makhachkala city

The Ay River is the largest tributary of the Ufa River and one of the most picturesque places in the Southern Urals. Ayskiye Pritosy is a unique natural geological object located on the Ay River, on the border of Chelyabinsk Oblast and the Republic of Bashkortostan.

These beautiful limestone cliffs, which are steep walls up to 90 meters high, consist of two groups – Bol’shiye (Big) Pritosy and Malye (Small) Pritosy. In the local dialect, Ayskiye Pritosy is called “Sybar-kaya”, which in translation from Bashkir language means “multi-colored cliff”. Ayskiye Pritosy on Google Maps. Photos by: Vladimir Lyapin.

amazing natural monument of the Southern Urals

Tags: Bashkortostan Republic · Chelyabinsk oblast

Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky is a city in Russia, the administrative center of Kamchatka Krai. It is located on the southeastern coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula, on the shores of Avacha Bay of the Pacific Ocean. The distance to Moscow in a straight line is almost 6,800 km.

The population of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky is about 163 thousand people, slightly more than half of the total population of the region. The elevation difference in the city is 513.6 meters from sea level (Avacha Bay) to the top of Mount Rakova. Photos by: Slava Stepanov.

views of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky from above

Tags: Kamchatka krai · Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky city

Tobolsk is a city in Russia with a population of about 100 thousand people, located at the confluence of the Tobol and the Irtysh rivers, about 250 km northeast of Tyumen. It was founded as the center of the development of Siberia in 1587, about 17 km from the Tatar settlement of Sibier (also known as Kashlyk, Isker), the capital of the Siberian Khanate (1468-1598).

From the end of the 16th to the 18th centuries, it was the main military, administrative, political, and religious center of Siberia. Today, Tobolsk is the second most populous city in Tyumen Oblast. Photos by: Anton Petrus.

picturesque old Siberian city

Tags: Tobolsk city · Tyumen oblast

Iturup is an island of the southern group of the Great Ridge of the Kuril Islands, the largest island of the archipelago, part of Sakhalin Oblast, Russia. The island is disputed by Japan, which considers it as part of Nemuro Subprefecture of Hokkaido Prefecture.

According to the most common version, the name of this island goes back to the word “etorop”, which is translated from the Ainu language as “jellyfish”. In 2023, the population of the island was about 6,900 people. Iturup Island on Google Maps. Photos by: Andrey Grachev.

amazing nature of Iturup

Tags: Sakhalin oblast

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Photo by Michał Parzuchowski on Unsplash

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Severnaya Zemlya (literally “Northern Land”, until 1926 – Land of Emperor Nicholas II) is an archipelago located in the central part of the Arctic Ocean north of the Taimyr Peninsula on the border of the Kara Sea and the Laptev Sea. This is the northernmost part of Krasnoyarsk Krai of Russia.

The archipelago consists of 4 large islands (October Revolution, Komsomolets, Bolshevik, Pioneer) and a number of small ones. The area of Severnaya Zemlya is about 37 thousand square km. The length from north to south is 380 km, from west to east – 340 km. There is no permanent population on the islands. Severnaya Zemlya on Google Maps. The following photographs were taken by Slava Stepanov in July.

pristine arctic landscapes

Tags: Krasnoyarsk krai

The Dolgiye Mountains is one of the southern spurs of the Ural Mountains, stretching 14 km from north to south from the Ural River to the Sakmara River, on the 135th km of the Orenburg – Orsk highway.

The mountains are not high, but for the surrounding steppe terrain they look quite impressive and from a height they look like the backbone of a huge dragon. The Dolgiye Mountains on Google Maps. Photos by: Slava Stepanov.

beautiful mountain scenery

Tags: Orenburg city · Orenburg oblast · Orsk city