Timelapse: Aurora, SAR, and the Milky Way

Timelapse: Aurora, SAR, and the Milky Way
Video Credit & Copyright: Jeff Dai (TWAN); Music: Ibaotu catalog number 771024 (Used with permission)
Explanation: What's happening in the sky this unusual night?

Most striking in the featured 4.5-hour 360-degree
panoramic video, perhaps, is the pink and purple
aurora.

That’s because this night, encompassing May 11, was famous for its
auroral skies around the world.

As the night progresses,
auroral bands shimmer, the
central band of our
Milky Way Galaxy rises, and
stars shift as the
Earth rotates beneath them.

Captured here simultaneously is a rare red band running above the aurora: a
SAR arc, seen to change only slightly.

The flashing below the horizon is caused by passing cars, while the moving spots in the sky are satellites and airplanes.

The featured video was captured from
Xinjiang,
China with four separate cameras.