How do I get a photo like this?

[Matt]

You get photos like that by creating a composite image.


It looks like someone took a photo from a nebula, maybe a Hubble image, and put it with a night sky shot. The aurora is very bright, so there is now way that the stars behind it would be bright enough to shine through, let alone outshine the aurora.

Here is what you can do in southern California, Joshua Tree to be specific:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ocshooter/9503545960/

And that was just my first time out doing it.

You need a very dark sky, away from any city lights. Then you need a tripod, a dSLR (or SLR), and a wide-ish lens. Here is a great tutorial on how to do astrophotography:
https://vimeo.com/16833554