Resident captures Aurora Australis from Sunshine Coast hinterland

A hinterland resident has managed to capture photos of the Aurora Australis as southern Australia embraced the cosmic light show.

Aurora Australis captured on the Sunshine Coast. Photo: contributed.

A Sunshine Coast resident has shared a spectacular shot of the Aurora Australis over the hinterland taken with just her mobile phone.

The resident, who wished to remain anonymous, drove up to Mary Cairncross Scenic Reserve at Maleny on Friday about 8.10pm and set up her iPhone 15 Pro for the shot.

“The aurora was slightly visible on camera and with a very, very faint glow to the naked eye,” she said.

Seeing its intensity through the camera lens, the resident began to take long exposure images.

Aurora Australis captured on the Sunshine Coast. Photo: contributed.

A resident said light pollution from Brisbane against the light show from the Aurora Australis. Photo: contributed.

For the curious photography buffs, the resident said she had her shutter speed set to 30 seconds, lifted her exposure by two and started shooting

“In the astro photography world and aurora hunting world, it is widely accepted that images are edited and enhanced as the human eye is unable to see such distant aurora typically,” she said.

The pictures were taken southward looking over the Glasshouse Mountains, with light pollution from Brisbane visible, the resident said.

Long exposure was used to capture the Aurora Australis on the Sunshine Coast. Photo: contributed.

Other Australians between Tasmania to as far north as Ballina in New South Wales had the privilege of seeing the Aurora Australis in its full glory this week.

University of Tasmania professor of astrophysics Andrew Cole said the phenomenon is caused by electrically charged particles from outer space hitting the Earth’s atmosphere, causing the sky to light up “like a fluorescent light tube.”

“This tends to happen in the polar regions, where Earth’s magnetic field is trapping the charge,” he said.

Professor Cole said the cosmic light show occurred when a stream of protons and electrons from the sun moved past the Earth at several hundred kilometres per second.

“When electrons encounter the Earth’s magnetic field, they become trapped, moving along the field lines to the poles,” he said.

“The magnetic field funnels the electrons into the atmosphere in the polar regions and they strike atoms of oxygen or nitrogen molecules.”

He said in the low-density upper atmosphere, the atoms only lost this energy by emitting light, which created the glow that could be seen.

“Green and red come from oxygen at different altitudes, and violet comes from nitrogen,” professor Cole said.

Originally published as Resident captures Aurora Australis from Sunshine Coast hinterland