By Ashleigh McMillan
Keep your eyes on the southerly night skies. That’s the advice from experts on how to see the breathtaking aurora australis, which was spotted across the south of the country on Saturday morning.
The Bureau of Meteorology says our version of the northern lights could be visible after dark across the weekend. The southern lights are usually only seen in Tasmania, but now could pop up in major capitals including Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.
The aurora Australis captured from Tasmania on Saturday morning.Credit: Luke Tscharke
“Auroras may also be visible from as far north as southern Queensland and other low-latitude locations,” the bureau said.
The current phenomenon is caused by the most extreme geomagnetic storm in the Earth’s atmosphere since 2003.
Aurora Australis as seen from Stapleton Beach, Tasmania at about 7pm Saturday. Credit: Miles Smith
The weather bureau has also warned the disturbance could cause power outages and affect communication satellites.
The ideal viewing time for the bright auroras is between 10pm and 2am and should persist through to Sunday night.
The spectacle usually lasts between one and three hours – but there’s no “magic hour” during which the southern lights will definitely be on display.
On Saturday morning, aurora chasers captured photos of stunning bright green and red lights in the sky across South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia.
The severe storm also brought a dazzling display of the northern lights across Europe and as far south as Alabama in the United States.
Astrophysicist and author Alfredo Carpineti saw them from the rooftop of his north London apartment building.
“It is incredible to able to see the aurora directly from one’s own backyard,” he told The New York Times . “I was hoping to maybe catch a glimpse of green on the horizon, but it was all across the sky in both green and purple.”
Dr David Boyce, a science teacher in the midlands of England, wrote on social media he was trying not to cry as the aurora lit up the sky above him and he wasn’t sure if he was having a “religious experience” or going through “an alien abduction”.
University of Tasmania astronomer Professor Andrew Cole said sunspots on the sun’s surface had unstable magnetic fields, which occasionally ejected “blobs” of material into space.
When they interact with Earth’s upper atmosphere, they can cause geomagnetic storms.
Cole said guessing when the aurora australis would light up the sky was as difficult as predicting rainfall – but weather conditions were looking good for another brilliant display overnight on Saturday.
“It’s lit up like a Christmas tree all over Europe right now, so I would start looking after sunset as soon as it gets dark because you never know how long it’s going to last,” he said.
“One of my students told me it was the best he’s ever seen it, with pillars of red light extending all the way up to the highest part of the sky.”
The Bureau of Meteorology’s space weather forecasting centre warned the geomagnetic storm caused by the solar flares would likely reach a level G5 extreme event on Saturday and could affect power grids and satellites.
The G-scale – which ranges from G1 (minor) to G5 (extreme) – measures the fluctuations in Earth’s magnetic field. The phenomenon does not cause harm to humans.
“The warning issued for this event informs government and critical infrastructure operators so they can take action to mitigate potential impacts on infrastructure assets and essential services,” the bureau said in a statement.
“When G5 geomagnetic conditions occur, bright auroras will be visible at unusually low latitudes, including dark-sky locations near Sydney and Perth.”
The southern lights photographed across Lake Tekapo in New Zealand.Credit: iStock
The geomagnetic disturbance is likely to resolve by 6am on Monday.
Clinton Wallace, director of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s space weather prediction centre, called the geomagnetic storm an “unusual and potentially historic” event.
But how best to see the vibrant green and pink hues? Often auroras aren’t picked up well by the naked eye, so consider using your phone camera, which can capture light better.
Take a photo of the sky and “there might be actually a nice little treat there for you”, said Mike Bettwy, operations chief for the prediction centre.
Bureau senior meteorologist Dean Narramore told this masthead last year that the best option for spying aurora australis was by looking south across clear skies and avoiding light pollution.
“If it gets really strong, people in southern Victoria might have to turn around and look north. So don’t forget to look over the entire sky,” he said.
In April last year, the southern lights were spotted across Victoria and Tasmania, even cropping up in Canberra and the West Australian town of Esperance. The dazzling display was caused by a large, single solar flare.
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