Aurora Borealis Documented with On-Flight Photos

Apr 12, 2011, 09:43 by Victor Ryan

An extraordinary view of Aurora Borealis, also known as the Northern Lights, was provided on Youtube by an airplane passenger on a flight from San Francisco to Paris.

The traveler, Youtube handle nbolt, shot a photo approximately every two miles on the 11-hour trip, which equates to a snap of the photo every two seconds. The photos were made with a 5d2, a time-lapse controller, and a 16mm--35mm camera, along with an iPhone.

Nbolt posted the results as a time lapse video that can be found with a quick Google search. He duly notes that photos were not taken during take-off and landing in order to satisfy FAA rules. Those are a computer model, nbolt said in a blog post. 

In all, 2,459 photos were condensed into two minutes. They also include amazing shots of the Canadian tundra. Nbolt said he had a whole row to himself on the Air France flight and the crew allowed him to set up a tripod and other gear to take the photos.

According to Wikipedia, an aurora is a natural light display in the sky that occurs mostly in the polar regions. They are caused by the collision of charged particles directed by the Earth's magnetic field.