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Monday 29 May 2017
'Huge naked-eye beams': spectacular aurora australis lights up the southern skies
Onlookers were treated to a stellar show on Sunday when the phenomena appeared above Tasmania and New Zealand’s South Island
The southern-most points of Australia and New Zealand have been treated to an extraordinary spectacle as unusually colourful aurora australis lights swept across the skies.
Images and video of the event flooded social media on Sunday night. The Aurora Australis Tasmania Facebook page, which counts more than 52,000 members, was a focal point for people to share what they captured.
A stitched-together photo of the aurora with the Milky Way bending overhead Photograph: Garth Smith
Speaking to the ABC,
the founder of the group, Margaret Sonnemann, said Sunday night’s
aurora had “huge naked-eye beams”, which was not always the case, but
warned that those chasing the light display should not count on what
they saw in the sky matching the photographs seen online.
A strong aurora australis can be predicted using planetary index or
Kp numbers, which are a measure of geomagnetic activity that increases
on a scale of zero to nine according to geomagnetic strength. Sunday’s
aurora came with a Kp number of seven, meaning it could be easily viewed
from Tasmania and the southern end of New Zealand’s South Island.
Aurora australis Kp map. Photograph: Aurora Service
Tasmanian aurora watcher and photographer, Garth Smith said that he
didn’t have to wait long to capture the spectacle. “The [Kp] numbers
were off the dial during our daytime,” he said. “We knew it was going to
happen and were just waiting for it to get dark and for the clouds to
disappear, which luckily happened at about the same time.”
He said he was out for less than an hour in total although others
wouldn’t have been so lucky, estimating some could have spent six or
more hours waiting for a top shot.
The aurora australis and large and small Magellanic
clouds captured by Garth Smith from south-west Tasmania on 28 May. The
Magellanic clouds (or
Nubeculae Magellani) are two irregular dwarf galaxies visible from the southern hemisphere. Photograph: Garth Smith
Another aurora watcher and photographer, Julie Head of Squeaking
Point in north-west Tasmania captured the display at different times
during the evening, with one photo managing to include the lights, the
sunset and multiple satellites.
Aurora australis and satellites at sunset. Photograph: Julie Head
Aurora australis lights and a gumtree captured near Squeaking Point in North West Tasmania on 28 May. Photograph: Julie Head
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