The Great May Auroras of 2025 from Alan Dyer on Vimeo.
This 5-minute video presents the fine aurora displays of May 28/29, and May 31/June 1, as seen from home in rural southern Alberta, at latitude 51º N. These occurred during a week with a series of bright auroras at the end of May 2025 as a large and long-lasting stream of energetic particles passed by Earth from a major solar flare on May 27.
The video contains real-time videos showing the aurora motion as it appeared. Plus at the end, I include two time-lapse sequences from May 31, taken over 40 to 55 minutes. The video includes three still-image panoramas from the two nights.
The video primarily shows the pulsating or flickering effect that is common in major displays, often occurring after a sub-storm has brightened the aurora, then faded into the pulsating “recovery phase,” but which can last the rest of the night and still be going at dawn.
The pulsation effect is caused by electrons trapped in the Van Allen Belts surrounding Earth and that are bouncing back and forth from the northern hemisphere to the southern, producing fast pulsing patches as they enter the upper atmosphere.
The videos of that effect are real-time showing how fast those pulsations can be, making them difficult to capture with any technique other than real-time video.
Keep in mind that even with the short shutter speeds of real-time videos, the larger aperture of a camera lens is capable of picking up colours (greens from oxygen and pinks from nitrogen) that are still just below the threshold for even the dark-adapted human eye to see. I did see some greens and reds by eye when the sub-storm hit on May 31. But most of what is recorded here looked grey or just pale green to the eye.
Music is Colors in Movement by Johannes Bornlof. Licensed from Epidemic Sound.
Technical: All but the first video clip (which was with a Nikon Z8) were captured with a Nikon Z6III at ISOs 25,600 to 51,200, and a Viltrox 16mm lens at f/1.8. Shutter speed was usually 1/15 second.
The first time-lapse was with a Canon Ra at ISO 800 and 11mm TTArtisan lens at f/2.8, for 178 frames, each 10 seconds.
The second time-lapse was with a Nikon Z8 at ISO 1600 and 10mm Laowa lens at f/2.8 for 300 frames, each 10 seconds.
The May 28 panorama was with the Nikon Z8, and 20mm Nikkor lens at f/1.8 for 9 segments, each 5-second exposures. Stitched in Adobe Camera Raw.
The May 31 panoramas were with the Nikon Z6III in portrait orientation, and Viltrox 16mm lens at f/1.8 for 8 to 10 segments, each 5-second exposures. Stitched in PTGui.
