How to take pictures of northern lights on Android

The northern light is visible in the vast parts of the Northern Hemisphere, due to strong geomagnetic storms. Here is reported how to take a picture of northern lights using Google Pixel smartphone or other Android devices.

Northern Lights – Arora Borelis – usually appear only in distant north parts of the world. They are a result of solar storms passing through the Earth and the charged particles interact with gases in the atmosphere. It is a dramatic view in the sky, and at the end of this week it appears in parts of the world that rarely see it. Which includes wide parts of the United States.

Starting from 10 May and it is also happening on 11 May – although not as strong – you can see and see Arora Borelis. This will vary on the basis of where you live, the level of light pollution, and many other factors. For naked eyes, you can see some colors or a minor tint in the sky, but a camera can actually see more in the right circumstances.

Update 6/1/2025: Another Powering through a strong solar storm, with Estimate The southwards as Alabama and California removing visibility, as in October. The front south can see the lights through a camera in the south – along the stages mentioned in this guide – where they cannot appear to the naked eyes.

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Update 10/10/2024: As another strong solar storm comes, Northern lights are roughly available for viewing in large parts of the United StatesIts estimated Arora may appear in the south as parts of Alabama or California. In many cases, in a dark environment, Arora is still appearing in the capture in a night’s vision, whether they are barely visible or are not visible to the naked eyes.

Using a long exposure mode on your camera, such as astrophotography of Google Pixel, you can capture northern lights in a way that looks better than naked eyes. How to do this here.

To start, you will need two things. A deep atmosphere with minimal light pollution, and a tripod.

Mount your phone on the tripod And open the camera app. Then, on a pixel, Switch to “night vision” mode With the lower bar. If the northern light is already visible in your eyes clearly, you will probably be able to capture it using the night vision on your own. But astrophotography can capture in a lot of detail, and also a time-laps.

To Astronomy trigger On your pixel, set the phone on a tripod and make sure it is on a stable surface. After staying a few seconds, you will see Star (See the image above) appear on the shutter button. Gently tap on the button and then your phone will start the process that may take up to 4 minutes.

Night vision mode on google pixel

Once the shot is finished, your phone will process the image and one will still export from the photo as well as the shot periodically, which is particularly fun to capture the northern lights.

There are some shots here which we captured from North Carolina on 10 May during the first night of Arora Boralis.

While many other Android phones do not have dedicated modes to astrophotography, you can still capture a good shot with standard night mode. Most phones, including Samsung Galaxy devices, when it becomes sufficiently dark, they will automatically switch to night mode.

A good rule of the thumb would be that if you can see northern lights with naked eyes, you can probably capture the standard night mode of the phone. If you can only see Barely Arora, you will need to dive into a manual shooting mode and look for long exposure options.

On modern Samsung Galaxy devices, you will be able to reach the exposure for a long time in two ways. Under dedicated “night” mode, you can switch to “Max” from Auto Exposure. Alternatively, you can dive into “Pro” mode and crank “speed” for 5 or 6 seconds. Like the pixel, you will need a tripod for this.

If you have used this guide to take pictures of northern lights with your Android phone, share them in the comment below!

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