Incredible Fast-Moving Aurora Captured in Real Time by Thierry Legault

Usually, videos that feature aurora are timelapse videos, in order to show the normally slow movements of the Northern and Southern Lights. But here are some incredibly fast-moving aurorae shown in real time, as seen by astrophotographer extraordinaire Thierry Legault. He was in Norway last week and said the fast-dancing, shimmering aurora were incredible.

“At moments they were so fast that 25 fps (frames per second) was not too much!” Legault said. “The second evening they were so bright that they appeared while the sky was still blue and I rushed to setup the tripod.”

See two videos below, one short version (8 minutes) and another longer 20-minute version. They are worth watching every minute!

He used Sony A7 video cameras, and said these movies show the true rhythm of the aurora, in addition with twinkling stars and trees moving in the wind.

“In the long version there are even several satellites slowly moving amongst the stars and 2 or 3 elusive shooting stars,” Legault told Universe Today. “Many constellations are visible, especially Cassiopeia with the double cluster, the Big Dipper, Cygnus, Lyra, Gemini.”

He added that the aurorae had an incredible variety of shapes and behaviors.

See more imagery on Legault’s website.

2 Replies to “Incredible Fast-Moving Aurora Captured in Real Time by Thierry Legault”

  1. like!!!
    I’ve seen still pics and videos, but never one describing just how fast or slow the lights were moving. This is pure magic.
    Thanks Thierry, Nancy, and UT!

  2. WOW! These images inspire the wildest critter pareidolia ever! Actually seeing magnetic field interactions between Earth and the solar wind is mind blowingly cool! Ditto Tihomir.. Thanks to Thierry, Nancy and UT!

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