On the night of January 19, 2026, a rare celestial phenomenon could be observed in Central Europe: The aurora borealis reached as far as Hesse and was also visible over the Rodgau area.
With my permanently installed Allsky camera, this event could be recorded continuously for several hours. The video embedded below shows a time-lapse documenting the development, intensity and spatial extent of the aurora borealis.
Auroral time-lapse video
The time-lapse makes the greenish (in white) and occasionally reddish structures visible, which are caused by the interaction of charged particles from the solar wind with oxygen and nitrogen atoms in the upper atmosphere. Such sightings are only possible in Germany during strong geomagnetic activity and are correspondingly rare.