TIMELAPSE SEQUENCE VIDEO FEATURING THE AURORA BOREALIS / NORTHERN LIGHTS, METEORS, LIGHTNING, PLANETS AND MILKYWAY 😍💚💜💙🌩🌠✨️
Over the last year or so we have been treated to some of the most astoundingly intense and beautiful auroral displays that have been seen for a very long time, with auroral displays being so strong that they’ve been witnessed all across the UK and beyond. In fact we have been treated to some of the best displays that we have ever seen in a decade of religiously chasing the Northern Lights.
We have been very busy recently and as many of you know we’ve had a lot going on behind the scenes. However, whilst we have had a spare moment in-between preparing for the start of our new stargazing season, holding our stargazing experiences, and working on other exciting things, we have been looking through some of our aurora images and timelapse sequences that we captured during some of these recent displays.
Apart from the incredible all-sky auroral displays on May the 10th and the 10th October, there was another Northern Lights display that really stood out for us that occurred on the night of the 12th of August.
THE AMAZING LIGHT DISPLAYS ON THE 12TH OF AUGUST
Given the twelfth of August was the peak of the Perseids meteor shower, we originally planned to capture a photograph of the milky way and meteors from one of our favourite places on the North York Moors. However, on the night before the peak of the Perseids and on the night of the peak we were treated to some stunning displays of the Northern Lights. Not only this, we were also treated to a lightning storm that ran all throughout the night of the Perseids peak.
On the evening of the twelfth, the northern sky was painted with so many beautiful colours. There were stunning pinks, greens and even purples and blues with gorgeous white columns stretching high into the sky (up towards Cassiopeia at times) and dancing side to side. The display was even strong enough to be visible to the eye!
There were so many meteors blazing across the sky in all directions throughout the night too. There was a beautiful array of Perseids, Southern Delta Aquariids and Alpha Capricornids lighting up the sky. We were even treated to several fireballs that left glowing trails too! There was so many meteors that we lost count!
The Aurora and Perseids were also joined by the summer Milky Way arching across the night sky and later in the night the beautifully bright planets - gas giant Jupiter and red planet Mars (that appeared very close together in the sky), began to rise adding to the beautiful celestial array.
On top of all of this, there was an incredible lightning display that lasted all the way through the night into the pre-dawn hours, lighting the distant clouds with dramatic, powerful flashes. It was incredible to witness these beautiful natural phenomena all at once and made for a truly magical evening full of stunning light displays.
ASTRO DOGS TIMELAPSE SEQUENCES FROM THE 12TH OF AUGUST
We had multiple cameras running throughout that magical evening and captured many photographs and timelapse sequences. One of the cameras was tracking the sky following the constellation of Perseus, the radiant of the Perseids meteor shower and the other camera was set up to capture the scene towards the North. We have put together a little video that showcases the amazing lights displays that were visible on that evening. We hope you like it!
The main foreground subject of our images is a lone tree surrounded by the purple heather at one of our favourite locations on the North York Moors, however, taking centre stage in this video is the stunningly colourful auroral display dancing across the northern skies.
Although they are quite hard to spot in the timelapse (mostly due to the super bright Aurora and the intermittent cloud passing overhead) there were also many Perseid meteors, see if you can spot some.
On the horizon you can see the spectacular bright flashes of energy from the powerful lightning storm, lighting up the thick clouds in the distance.
Within the rotating sky tracked sequence you can spot some well-known constellations including Perseus, Cassiopeia and Andromeda to name just a few. Also visible in this sequence is the faint elliptical glowing shape of the distant Andromeda galaxy, the Pleiades star cluster (aka the Seven Sisters) of the zodiacal constellation Taurus, as well as the two super bright star-like points of light that are the planets Jupiter and Mars. Tracked sequences like this are a great way to see the Earth’s rotation in action.
We were also joined by our good friend Alan and another group of photographers on this evening. You can spot Alan on the left of the initial sequence and the trails of light that travel across the frame is the group of photographers as they arrived half way through the night. Luna the Astro Dog herself also makes a brief appearance and graces part of the video too, see if you can spot her!
CLOSING WORDS FROM ASTRO DOG
We haven’t ventured very far into the world of YouTube and video content as of yet, but we are hoping to create more video content in the near future if people would be interested in this.
We hope that you enjoy the little timelapse video that we have put together for you all. It was such a special evening and we had such an amazing time witnessing these amazing displays.
We have already had so many amazing auroral displays this year and we are hoping to see even more in the near future. We are now within a period of time where our closest star – the Sun is likely to show increased magnetic/sunspot activity, so there is a very good chance that we will be treated to more amazing auroral displays in the near future (fingers crossed!)
As we head towards winter we are also experiencing longer and darker nights that are great for stargazing and enjoying the night sky. We here at Astro Dog are looking forward to these longer nights and all the stargazing and astrophotography opportunities that come with them.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT
If you enjoy what we do and would like to show your appreciation and support for Astro Dog, please share our page with your friends and family and anyone you think might enjoy our content. As ever, we are eternally grateful for all the support that you have shown us.
If you head outside to enjoy the night sky at any point in the future, we wish you all good luck and clear skies!
Please watch our timelapse here: