I’m a big Jimi Hendrix fan, but I had no idea that ‘Purple Haze’ was supposedly inspired by Philip José Farmer’s science-fiction novella Night of Light. I learned this when staring wide-eyed at NASA’s stunning image of the day, entitled ‘Purple Haze Aurora’.
As the NASA article explains, Farmer’s story revolves around a cyclical event that shrouds a planet in a 'purple haze', changing the fabric of its inhabitants' reality. The photograph by astronaut Jessica Meir depicts a view of an aurora, appearing to scythe its way across Earth’s surface, captured from the team of astronauts’ position on the International Space Station.
Star and city trails with aurora. I shot this long exposure (30s) series with a Nikon Z9, 15mm lens from our Dragon window. An array of satellites appears toward the end (above horizon at left of screen), and the Moon rises, evoking our @NASAArtemis ambitions (thicker star trail to right of satellites). Thanks to @astro_anil for his master programming to stack the images allowing the trails grow.September 12, 2026
Shot with a Nikon Z9 and a Zeiss 15mm T1.8, the photograph was captured when the ISS was orbiting our planet at an altitude of 255 miles above Kyrgyzstan. A multi-shot stack (above) was also captured and combined to make a series of incredible star trails as well as light trails from Earth’s surface.
How to photograph an aurora
It's unlikely that you're going to get the opportunity to photograph an aurora from the ISS, but depending on where you reside (or are prepared to travel to), you may wish to learn how to capture an aurora from a more conventional vantage point here on Earth.
While it’s very possible to capture an aurora using a camera phone, serious astrophotographers will want to switch to manual mode and shoot at a wide aperture to let in as much light as possible. Start with a long exposure of 10 seconds and balance your ISO accordingly. If this introduces too much motion blur, up your ISO and speed up your shutter speed slightly.
And don’t forget that auroras are less vibrant when viewed by the naked eye, so don’t be put off by an unspectacular display until you’ve seen it through the lens of your camera.
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