Video

The Ultimate Aurora Borealis

A staggering time-lapse video of the northern lights shot over five weeks in Iceland.

Photographer Vincent Brady, whose cameras are usually looking up, takes incredible natural images and then morphs them into superlative time-lapse videos that stretch our perceptions. His innovative camera rigs capture wide-angle vistas that, in video form, can be difficult to fully comprehend—not that you’ll be able to stop looking. Previously in Slate, Phil Plait detailed the mechanics of his work, chasing the elusive science hidden in each moving image.

After capturing the haze of fireflies in the night and a rich planetary horizon, Brady has traveled to Iceland, where he put a five-week stay to predictable good use and turned his cameras on the aurora borealis. It’s been a particularly good year for the northern lights, resulting in some singular images, but we’ve never seen views this strange and enthralling. Watch the video above for Brady’s surreal vision of the phenomenon, set to an acoustic score Brandon McCoy recorded especially for the project.

Read more about Brady’s work or head to his YouTube page.