20 spectacular shades of night to brighten up your dreams

The darkness of the night can alternatively be murky and mysterious, beautiful, rainy, moonlit, even white. Each and every night has its own shade, it’s own light.

We at Bright Side believe that nighttime is not at all as gray and impenetrable as people tend to think. To prove this to you, here are 20 of the most stunning photos of this most intriguing period of the 24-hour cycle that were entered as part of the contest "Night Life", organised by National Geographic Russia magazine. Some of these are truly spectacular!

1st place: Painted night

Belaya Kholunitsa, Kirov region, Russia.

Stellar carousel

Bolshoi Utrish village, Krasnodar region, Russia.

The white nights of Karelia

Autumn rain

Saint Petersburg, Russia.

In milky-white mist

Tver region, Russia.

The Milky Way above Koba-Kaya mountain

The Republic of Crimea.

Dreams of Kamchatka

Klyuchevskiy volcano belt, Kamchatka region, Russia.

The exquisite colours of Aurora Polaris

Lofoten, Norway.

Tigirek at night

Altai region, Russia.

The Aurora Polaris

Volgograd region, Russia.

Nocturnal maelstrom

Krasnaya Polyana, Krasnodar region.

Paradise in a tent

Eternal wanderers

North Ural, Manpupuner ridge, Russia.

Moonrise with a halo

Katunskiy reservation, Altai region, Russia.

The city of ghosts

Kiin-Kerish valley, Kazakstan.

A summer night in the mountains

The Milky Way above Lake Kucheria, Altai region, Russia.

An autumn evening

The Volga river, Russia.

The ridge before dawn

In the North Caucasus, Russia.

Winter tale

Yamalo-Nents, Russia.

Night’s watch

Severodvinsk, Arkhangelsk region, Russia.