Fire in the Sky

Few natural phenomena carry the quiet menace of the Northern Lights. Extraordinarily beautiful, the aurora borealis is also evidence of something far more volatile: solar particle storms that can disable satellites, disrupt air traffic, and bring down power and telecommunications networks on a civilisational scale.

Directed by Simo Sipola and produced by Yle in co-production with Arte, Fire in the Sky draws on the latest scientific research to examine both the wonder and the danger of this phenomenon. Scientists share new findings on how solar storms affect not only human infrastructure but animal behaviour, including the navigational instincts of humpback and sperm whales. The scope moves fluently between the cosmic and the biological.

Shot in 4K using filming techniques that capture the aurora as it genuinely appears in the wild, the film is as much a visual experience as an intellectual one. The images are extraordinary. But the science is the real subject, and it is treated with care and precision.

This is a documentary that takes a phenomenon most people associate with beauty and reveals the physics, the risk, and the ecological consequences behind it. Accessible without being simplistic, and grounded in current research rather than speculation.