Subhankar Banerjee captured this photo of a rare red aurora borealis on Nov. 5, 2001.

While Robert and Perry set up the tent, I notice the sky is catching a faint pink tint, not something I had seen before. At first I think it is the color of the sunset but soon realize?no, this color is actually moving. I am seeing the beginning of an aurora borealis. The sky is deep midnight blue, with stars galore across the northern horizon. I forget about food or going inside a shelter. I have never photographed an aurora before, and I am nervous. I take out my camera gear and find a comfortable spot at the edge of the willow patch. For the next four hours I am mesmerized as the faint pink display turns deep pink mixed with bright white, and then becomes deep red with bright yellow highlights.

The color palette in the sky and across the land is amazing. The moon is at its half phase, casting light and shadow on the snow-covered Romanzof Mountains. The Hulahula ice field catches the red of the aurora. Amazing shapes form and disappear in the sky.

Around eight in the evening the temperature drops to about minus fifty degrees F, and we turn in for the night. I got my first frostbite, on three fingers and the tip of my nose.

The next evening the sky presents us with a dramatic display of the more common green aurora. Unlike the previous night, where the shapes formed and disappeared slowly, the green display moves and changes shapes at a furious pace. The moon stays behind thin, wispy clouds, casting almost no light on the land.

We camp out along the Hulahula River valley for the next thirteen days. Robert and Perry are here for autumn sheep hunting. Thanksgiving is approaching and they want to bring fresh meat home to share during the community feast. Each night I look up to the sky for yet another display of aurora, but never again see anything like the amazing red aurora of November 5.

Reprinted with permission from Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: Seasons of Life and Land published by The Mountaineers Books.