Northern Lights Flight - Sixty Symbols

For something a bit different, we jump in plane from Nottingham in search of the Northern Lights.

(just sharing the link for those who are curious - we have no affiliations and get nothing whether you book or not!)

SIXTY SYMBOLS STUFF
This project features scientists from The University of Nottingham

Sixty Symbols videos by Brady Haran

A run-down of Brady's channels:

[DCSMustang]

well i have a beautiful story to tell:
i was in a flight from SanFrancisco to Zurich 2 jears ago where i knew the pilot a little bit. since i am interested in becoming a pilot myself, i wrote him an email before the flight if i could visit the cockpit during flight. so as you might know, those flights are crossing the atlantic pretty far up north, crossing the south part of greenland. so when it was night and everyone was sleeping, the head flight attendant sneakt me into the cockpit. exited as i was, we were chatting about my future plans of being a pilot, when i noticed some green light outside the windscreen popping trough the reflections of the cockpit lights. i asked the pilot about it and he was confused first too, then he turned all lights down and we saw a huge green aurora over greenland with the milkyway behind it and we were heading straight into it! that was the most beautiful thing i've ever seen.
As we flew further into it, the aurora got more mighty and imppressive. we could see it moving really slow, wobbeling around. there were green spikes coming down on us and i could see through the side windows in the cockpit (that are tilted a bit) straight up into these needles and they appeared to overwhelm the whole aircraft. all of that looked so surreal and strange it was like a dream. the pilots told me that they see these auroras only about twice a jear, even though they fly these routes pretty often. sadly i didn't take my dslr camera with me and my phone just didn't capture those green lights. since everyone was sleeping on the plane that was the most special thing that ever happened to me: being lucky to get into the cockpit for an hour and then being so incredibly lucky to be there at just that right moment...
just wanted to share this one, cheers.

[sixtysymbols]

ha ha. I'm not great!

Other complication was that I was using the 650D for filming, so running around the plane with it and flicking modes... Could not fix it with a tripod or anything...

And worst of all, I could switch on the review screen to see what was working and not working, because it was too bright and would ruin everyone's night vision. So essentially just holding down the shutter on bulb mode - hand held - and hoping for the best! ;)

Next time I'll have a whole lot of other plans!

[RimstarOrg]

Thanks for sharing this. Growing up in Labrador we used to see these sometimes without having to take a trip anywhere. Looking back, I wish I'd paid more attention.

[lobaxx]

Other than the -30c temps and the never-ending darkness, this make me feel lucky to be living in northern Sweden. We've had some amazing auroras this year, and it's a pity more can't experience the breathtakingly beautiful and complex dance a dark, clear winter sky and some solar activity can produce.

[MakuziTheInuk]

or you could visit northern Canada and experience the northern lights above you. I used to live up in Iqaluit, Nunavut, pretty amazing.

[oisnot]

You should visit Norway instead of taking pictures froma plane so far south!

[MaciejWiniarczyk]

If you have more time than probably is better to drive to Caithness for a weekend (if there is forecast for aurora do to CME on the way). We are getting quite decent aurora displays quite often. Check my channel for this year aurora time lapses.

[GetOutsideYourself]

I was lucky enough to see and photograph the aurora on a flight over Siberia between LAX and Beijing. Judging from the photos seen on this video, I'd say we had a decent display.

[RobMellowship]

I hope you don't mind I've tweeted and Facebooked your vid (Giving you full credit) because we went on 3.2.13 trip and our video didn't really match the quality of yours. I just wanted to give my two sons who brought us the trip as a special present as an idea of what it was like. Thanks for sharing.

[DobieTanpaw]

I've never seen the Aurora Borealis, but I'd love to some day. I'll probably have to take a trip north though, seeing as I live right around the 40th parallel.

[Shilag]

Man, I just love the auroras. They're probably my favorite natural phenomenon, yet I've never had the chance to see one first hand yet. One day I definitely will.

[jiminboo]

Brady, do people on the aisle seats get screwed then? No true access to window, unless they take turns an switch around...

[synapse]

It got pretty bright but not to where you could see or anything; and certainly not as bright as a full moon. The snow didn't really reflect enough to show the colors. Mostly it was the immensity of it, filling the sky and the way it moved with swirling patterns and such. Sometimes it would just be a series of streaks in part of the sky with a few ribbons up north, over Mt. McKinley; but the nights that it filled the sky were magical. It could get pretty psychedelic.

[unicornsification]

There is room for improvement. You can't argue with that. I mean, if a person makes an ignorant joke just because they are uninformed, you have to call them out on it even when they meant no harm. Because it is harmful. We don't live in a perfect society, it is very hard for groups that are traditionally made fun of. For example feminists. Sexism is still a real problem. I have to lie about being in a psychiatric hospital because for some reason, having a purely medical problem is shameful etc.

[unicornsification]

And about being offensive - there is definitely such a thing as political correctness gone mad and being unreasonably sensitive about everything. I firmly believe that in comedy there shouldn't be forbidden topics. You can make jokes about sensitive issues, but you can't be etc. It's not okay to hurt people, it's not okay to make them live in society where it's okay to make fun of "people like them" just because we don't want to change.

[unicornsification]

Yeah, i'm really not that angry, I was just really frustrated because people who are usually interested in knowledge and understanding the world around them can be so ignorant about really basic things about religion and religious people. Just the stupid reasoning that you can convert religious people by making them prove that their God exsist. Which they obviously can't do. Just, intelligent(?) people totally missing the point of religion and feeling superior because of their ignorance.

[unicornsification]

Well, you could ask what makes someone's sexuality or gender identity immune to mockery, and the answer is the same, but everyone agrees that's a very shitty thing to do. Don't think that mocking a majority(if you happen to live in a place where religious people outnumber atheists, where i live they are a minority) makes it any less offensive or disgusting. I've seen Christians mocked in school and it's as harmful and bad as mocking a trans* person or a black person. It's just NOT OKAY.

[heavymetaldeathlife]

I'm always willing to engage in a rational conversation with those who are genuinely interested in finding out. But I cannot possibly reason with bigots who believe people like me should be put to death simply because we don't believe in their nonsense. For centuries, non-believers have been penalised.

Satire and mockery are part of human nature, so let me ask again: what makes religion immune to mockery?

[unicornsification]

The only way to get them to see that is by having a respectful, but firm, conversation. And if you say that they are stupid and believe in fairies, they obviously are offended, get defensive and won't hear the reasonable arguments that we have.We won't change anything by shouting and hate. And these are real problems with real damage. You distance even the progressive and cooperative religious people when yu give atheism a bad name by attacking individuals who might agree with us on these issues

[unicornsification]

I mean, i get where these people are coming from, i understand the hate, and that's what i mean by "you people have to grow up", because we need to get religious people in the mindset that it is okay for them to believe what their religion tells them to (in their minds, there is a real risk that they might burn in hell forever if they don't, try to argue with that), BUT it is NOT okay for them to force people to live by these rules and that they have to respect the separation of church and state