Bioluminescence and night phenomena

Capturing more than one brand of nocturnal illumination, photographer Phil Hart snapped those images at Gippsland Lakes in Victoria, Australia, displaying both the cosmic light above the water and the bioluminescent algae below.

above: Bioluminescent algae Noctiluca Scintillans at Camp Cooinda on the Gippsland Lakes



Bioluminescence in waves lapping at a beach in this 1.5 hour exposure on the Gippsland Lakes.

A long exposure captures bioluminescence below, a swirling, starry night above.
Hart has been shooting these bioluminescent protists for a few years now, since wildfires in Victoria that began in 2006 set off a multi-year chain reaction in the local ecosystem that eventually led to these Noctiluca scintillans algae thriving in the Gippsland Lakes. This particular shot was captured via an hour-and-a-half exposure that reveals the rotation of the stars in the southern sky and the trillions of Noctiluca scintillans glowing in the water.