Aurora Borealis 2011: The Best Footage Of Northern Lights In Spring (VIDEO)

Aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights, is a natural occurring phenomenon that lights up the sky in northern latitudes' polar region. The aurora borealis most often occurs around the equinoxes, and a similar spectacle happens in the southern hemisphere, known as the aurora australis. Auroras occur when increased solar activity sends charged particles toward Earth.

From National Geographic:

Auroras are created when such charged particles flow along Earth's magnetic field lines. The particles hit the atmosphere at the Poles and excite air molecules, which release the extra energy as light.

Early 2011's aurora borealis was particularly intense due to the sun's most intense solar activity in 4 years. The series of massive solar flares triggered a bright aurora borealis spectacle widely viewed across northern regions.

Many spectacular aurora borealis videos have surfaced this year, including a Norwegian photographer's amazing time-lapse video, and another photographer accidentally stumbling upon an airplane view of the northern lights when documenting a flight from San Francisco to Paris.

Check out the best aurora borealis videos below, and vote for your favorite!

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The Aurora from Terje Sorgjerd on Vimeo.

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Photographer Terje Sorgjerd captured this incredible look at the northern lights in Norway.

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Photographer Terje Sorgjerd captured this incredible look at the northern lights in Norway.

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Rank #2  |  Average: 4

Nothing Exceptional Absolutely Stunning

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Top 5 Aurora Borealis Videos

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Comments

[CWonAHHP]

12:17 PM on 06/01/2011

This guy is GOOD!

I've only seen the Aurora once in my (long) life. It's an amazing sight. You can almost hear the snap and crackle of it. Nothing makes you so aware of your small place in the universe.

He not only captures this feeling, the music enhances it. This is a masterpiece.

[rawfoodsphd]

03:14 PM on 04/22/2011

What was the music for #4? LOVE both music and the video!

[CarolinaDem]

06:28 PM on 04/18/2011

How's this guy get paid?

[Pearl Garff]

10:48 AM on 04/17/2011

Everything, everyone, every moment, every breath is the Universe (ONE SONG) singing LOVE.
Just taking a moment this morning and witnessing the Northern LIghts as displayed here in Huffpost by Terje Sorgjerd has given me HOPE. Thank you! pearl

[Andrew Morley]

02:29 PM on 04/16/2011

that was an amazing taste of the splendor of natural life... do your part to help stop damaging the life please

[enlightenedgirl]

02:19 PM on 04/16/2011

Can you imagine what early man thought of the Aurora?

[daviddanko13]

11:40 AM on 04/16/2011

Did anyone notice the UFO under the airplane going across the screen. Was not part of the northern lights.

[enlightenedgirl]

02:21 PM on 04/16/2011

it's land in the water.  Pause/stop the video, easy to see, it's from the water through the clouds.

[Netflyer]

04:23 AM on 04/15/2011

Hey people, if you dig these go to www.spaceweather.com ... Check out their aurora galleries, they have been going on for years :-) Amazing stuff... The colors represent different elements fluorescing as the photons from the Sun excite them. Nitrogen shows green waves and Oxygen red.
If you want to film an aurora use a tripod, set your camera to 400 ASA or higher (beware the higher you set it the more digital artifacts will appear (the more grainy it gets). Mess with the exposure and bracket from 2 to 15 seconds. The camera will pick up even weak auroras because the sensor can accumulate photons over the exposure. Some nights when I think there is auroral activity I'll take a 10 second picture in the area I think I see it and then I can tell from the pic if I need to sit out and let my eyes adjust for the next 30 min.
That's another thing if you are down in the Northern US, we get weak aurora.
Check out this auroral radar pic. It shows heavy aurora North but as you can see weak aurora is present in NY state, Michigan, and over much of the Northern US.
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/pmap/gif/pmapN.gif

Use Spaceweather to see solar activity and when you should go outside and lookup for it :-)

[CarolinaDem]

06:36 PM on 04/18/2011

Awesome link, friend!! Fanned for the favor!

[Netflyer]

11:36 PM on 04/18/2011

My pleasure :-)

[Debra Van De Rostyne]

05:42 PM on 04/14/2011

Awesome!!!

[Figtree999]

11:15 AM on 04/14/2011

Absolutely stunning!

[Ambi84]

04:32 AM on 04/14/2011

Nice to see some parts of nature are not damaged. :)

[amaboss52]

05:48 PM on 04/13/2011

Once in awhile you can see it from Colorado, especially if you're in the mountains. Spectacular!!

[blackwind]

05:15 PM on 04/13/2011

The mainstream media doesn't usually report when an aurora is happening, or about to happen, but here's a site that will.
http://www.gi.alaska.edu/AuroraForecast/2
If you want to catch as light show, the next few years should be good!

[SeesBeyond]

02:25 PM on 06/01/2011

Thanks for sharing the link. I live in Fairbanks, AK where the aurorae are practically a nightly affair during the winter (and if it isn't overcast). Quite often it's right overhead. Looks exactly like shown here. FWIW, the green is from atomic oxygen emissions at 557.1 nm, the red lower borders from the First Positive band of molecular nitrogen. The lower border is at an altitude of ~110 km.

[Waterlooboy]

04:51 PM on 04/13/2011

The first and only time I ever saw the northern lights was also on a plane going from LA to London. Hard to imagine that 100 years ago it was quite common to see the lights in the northern continental united states.

[gaze08]

04:47 PM on 04/13/2011

I want to be there someday (viewing the N Lights), but this was the next best thing. Beautiful work.