I for one have never witnessed the northern lights in person, and like many people I experience them vicariously through the photography and videos of more well-traveled (or more polar-bound) individuals. Typically these are either single-shot photos or time-lapses made up of many somewhat long-exposure images. As beautiful as these are, they don’t accurately capture the true motion of this upper atmospheric phenomenon. But here we get a look at the aurora as it looks in real time, captured on camera by Jon Kerr from northern Finland. Check it out above or watch in full screen HD on YouTube.
The video was shot with a full-frame mirrorless Sony a7S. See more of Jon’s aurora videos on YouTube here.
Video credit: Jon Kerr. HT SunViewer on Twitter.
I’d always expected that the changes in appearance were a lot slower. Similar to how changes in a distant cloud’s appearance are almost imperceptible.
These were downright speedy.
My first and only sighting was from a plane on the way to Finland in 2005, the captain turned out the lights for us. It’s a different perspective from 25k feet seeing it arching across the sky. The whole cabin was silent in awe, so beautiful it brings tears to your eyes.