grafelic's image looks totally black on my crappy laptop monitor unless I turn brightness up to 100%, even then it's barely noticeable.

Here's a color enhanced version of grafelic's photo that shows the color bands more easily,

https://i.imgur.com/IS8JWD8.jpeg

Added some blur after color adjustments to remove pixelation artifacts.

I’m b mobile, it’s still black with a lil highlight.

Near, but definitely not retrospective

Here are some quality photos from Denmark: https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/vejret/saa-vildt-ser-det-ud-se-nat...

Incredible!

When I took photos of the northern lights on my Sony RX1 the colours became much stronger. I assumed all digital cameras captured the colours better than our eyes.

Yes, an electronic sensor is much more sensitive than our eyes. However, even within digital sensors, some are more sensitive than others. Add that sensitivity with the ability to do long exposure, and you can capture things we will never see with our naked eyes. Even with binoculars or telescopes, our eyes will just seem more photons, but pretty much without the color. That's where the digital sensors really "shine"

Our eyes definitely do not see "pretty much without the color". Born and raised in Norway I've watched more aurora borealis than I care to count. On many occassions you could see all kinds of colors and dancing lights with the naked eye, very strong and vivid, too. Important to be in a dark environment without light pollution. At the arctic circle during polar night you will see northern lights that almost match the most stunning photos you have seen.