RU-2568307 Northern Lights северное сияние - Russia

Contrary to intuition, seeing the Northern Lights isn't just a matter of heading "north." The Lights usually circle the globe in a circular or elliptical band centered on the earth's North Magnetic Pole, which is not at the same location as the North Geographic Pole, but rather is offset in the direction of northern Canada. The Northern Lights oval, meaning the area with the highest probability, covers most of Alaska, northern parts of Canada, the southern half of Greenland, Iceland and Northern Norway and the northernmost areas of Sweden and Finland, as well as the western half of the Russian north (with the Kola Peninsula of Murmansk Oblast being the most popular viewing spot).

A website www.smartertravel.com recommends the following as the best places to watch the Northern Lights in Russia.

The Kola Peninsula, snaking towards Scandinavia in northwestern Russia, is one of the principal lights-watching areas, thanks to its prime location on the northern lights' belt and a number of guided excursions that run from the Arctic city of Murmansk. Get there in December or January and you'll be gifted with pitch-black days and nights as the sun disappears from view for around six weeks. Alternatively, Severodvinsk is renowned for having some of the brightest lights in Russia, with red and green glows even visible from inside the city. And Salekhard, the world's only city located on the Arctic Circle, is firmly inside the superior viewing zone.

This postcard came from Elena (2 May 2014) Postcrossing and was sent from the far north of Russia (Barents Sea coast) from the small town of Polyarny, Murmansk Oblast on the Western side of the Kola Peninsula.  She said that the Northern Lights shown in this postcard occurred near where she lived.