Help the Astronauts - Submit Your Photos of the Northern Lights

Right now, the four astronauts Rabea Rogge (mission specialist), Eric Philips (vehicle pilot), Jannicke Mikkelsen (vehicle commander), and Chun Wang (mission commander) are in orbit around the Earth aboard SpaceX CrewDragon.

The space journey is the first ever to have an orbit around the poles, and there is a reason for this: the aurora project SolarMaX is part of the mission called Fram2, and it is about analyzing different types of auroras.

This is also where you, as an Earth-based photographer, come into the picture. By capturing images of the auroras at the time the crew moves over them, the research can obtain important data. 

- We will alert the crew when there are auroras entering their orbit - especially the "strange auroras" that we are interested in, such as smaller fragments, STEVE, aurora streaks, and continuous auroras,” says Katie Herlingshaw, who is the project leader for the SolarMaX research at the University of Svalbard.

By having photographers set the correct time on their camera - preferably to the second - and share their position from where they took the picture, she would like you to submit your images, whether they are taken with a camera or a mobile phone. Examples of interesting images can be seen here:

- We need photographers to submit their pictures of the northern lights. We are particularly interested in times when Fram2 passes over a location where the northern lights are visible. This allows us to triangulate the aurora formations using photographs both from the ground and from space, she explains.

You can submit the pictures you've taken through the observation service Skywarden. Pictures can also be uploaded to the Facebook group Northern Lights which is participating in the SolarMaX project, make sure to provide correct information about time and location.

If you want to read more about the project, you can do so on the website: SolarMaX.

On the SpaceX website you can see where Dragon is located. If you want to see times for passages over Stockholm, you can find them on the page Heavens Above, or any location of your choice. An excerpt is shown below.

The goal of the SolarMaX project is to create an open database of aurora photographs for researchers within a time window of 3-5 days. This collection will include images taken from the space mission Fram2 as well as images from the ground, taken by anyone on Earth who can observe the aurora.

Cinematographer on board

The 38-year-old award-winning cinematographer and director Jannicke Mikkelsen has been praised by the European Commission as "an innovator in next-generation film production" - and commander on board the Dragon.

She has also been acclaimed in virtual reality filmmaking by Queen's guitarist Brian May, who is also an astrophysicist. Mikkelsen earned a master's degree in cinematography from the National Film and Television School in the UK. Highlights of her career include the role of director, cinematographer on the VR concert film Queen + Adam Lambert: VR The Champions.

Mikkelsen, who grew up in Longyearbyen, Norway, has long been interested in filming in extreme environments. She enjoys the challenge and opportunities that lie in going to extraordinary lengths to capture an image. In orbit, she plans to use a Canon EOS R5C as well as a RED V-Raptor 8K.

“I have been fortunate to work with legends like Brian May and to call him my mentor. He taught me that inspiration is born through new perspectives!” says Mikkelsen. “You can either seek a new perspective, or you can create it. In my career, I do a mix of both. I strive to take my camera where no one has been before and to film in 3D to make you feel like you are there with me. To be able to bring a camera, I have to innovate, because the technology we have today is not enough for the challenges ahead. My dream is to take you on our space journey with Fram2, so you can experience our mission and see the planet Earth as we will.”

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Timelapse: This is how the recent days' auroras looked - from the space station

"I felt so lucky to get this picture," wrote NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick when he photographed the auroras and moonset from the ISS.