Northern lights have been visible in huge parts of the northern hemisphere due to stronger geomagnetic storms. Here’s how to take a photo of the North lights using a Google Pixel smartphone or other Android devices.
North lights – Aurora Borealis – are generally only visible in the far north parts of the globe. They are the result of solar storms that pass near the earth and loaded particles interacting with the gases in the atmosphere. It is a dramatic vision in the sky, and this weekend, it is visible in certain parts of the globe which rarely see it. This includes large parts of the United States.
From May 10 and also occurred on May 11 – but not as strong – you can search and see Aurora Boréalis. This will vary depending on where you live, the level of light pollution and many other factors. With the naked eye, you may notice colors in the sky or a slight shade, but a camera can actually see more in the right conditions.
Update 6/1/2025: Another A strong solar storm passes, with estimates Place visibility as far south as Alabama and California, as in October. The areas further south can see the lights through a camera – with the steps described in these guides – where they may not be visible to the naked eye.
Update 10/10/2024: While another strong solar storm arrives, Northern lights are widely available through large parts of the United States. It is estimated That the Aurora could be visible as far in the south as the Alabama or certain parts of California. In many cases, in a dark environment, the Aurora is always visible in a night capture even if they are barely visible or not visible to the naked eye.
Using a long exposure mode on your camera, such as the astrophotography of Google Pixel, you can capture the northern lights in a way that seems even better than the naked eye. Here’s how to do it.
To start, you will need two things. A dark environment with minimum light pollution and a tripod.
Mount your phone on the tripod And open the application of the camera. Then on a pixel, Go to “Night Sight” mode along the lower bar. If the northern lights are already clearly visible to your eyes, you can probably capture it using itself. But astrophotography can capture many more details and also a period of time.
HAS trigger astrophotography On your pixel, adjust the phone to a tripod and make sure it is on a stable surface. After a few remaining seconds, you will see a starry icon (See the image above) Appear on the shutter button. Gently press this button, then your phone will start the process that can take up to 4 minutes.
Once the shooting is finished, your phone will process the image and export a calm photo as well as a period of time in the photo, which is particularly fun to capture the northern lights.
Here are a few strokes that we captured in North Carolina during the first night of the Aurora Borealis on May 10.
Although few other Android phones have modes dedicated to astrophotography, you can always capture a good blow with standard nightlings. Most phones, including Samsung Galaxy devices, will automatically switch to night mode when it is quite dark.
A good basic rule would be that if you can see the northern lights with the naked eye, the standard night mode of your phone can probably capture one image. If you cannot barely see Aurora, you will probably have to dive into a manual shooting mode and search for long exposure options.
On modern Samsung Galaxy devices, you can access a long exposure in two ways. In the dedicated “night” mode, you can go from automatic exposure to “max”. Alternatively, you can plunge into the “pro” mode and increase “speed” to 5 or 6 seconds. As with Pixel, you will absolutely need a tripod for this.
If you have taken or used this guide to take photos of the North lights with your Android phone, share them in the comments below!
More on Android:
Follow Ben: Twitter / X,, Threads,, BlueskyAnd Instagram
FTC: We use automatic income affiliation links. More.
