See some of our favourite images of the aurora australis lights.
Here we look at the best the natural phenomenon has to offer across the country.
Auroras occur when a stream of charged particles emitted from the Sun makes its way to Earth. During periods of high solar activity, sunspots form and produce coronal mass ejections (CMEs). These are like gusts of wind that can reach speeds of a few thousand kilometres per second and contain a massive amount of energy.
These CMEs interact with atoms in Earth’s magnetic field to cause auroras. Different atoms create different colours, the most common being red and green for oxygen, and green and blue for nitrogen.
Here are some of our favourite aurora australis photographs:
“During the strongest geomagnetic storm in the last decade, we in Tasmania missed the height of it on Mar 17 2015 due to complete cloud cover,” says Sophie. “We got the consolation prize the next night though and this photo was taken at 9:40 AEDT at Howden, near Hobart.” Image credit: Sophie FazackerleySophie Fazackerley took this image of the aurora australis over Hobart, Tasmania on 15 March, 2015. “The range of colours was amazing, but they soon changed to mainly greens on the horizon with an interesting auroral form called a ‘patch’ – looking like a bright green cloud in the sky, and a proton arc to the right of the photo,” she said. Image credit: Sophie FazackerleyPhotographer Martin took this image of the aurora australis from Cape Schanck, Victoria. Image credit: Martin AuThe aurora australis from Dunedin, New Zealand. Image credit: James Kirkus-Lamont18 March, 2015. Corinne Le Gall took this image the night after the main solar storm hit, from Jervis Bay, NSW. Image credit: Corinne La GallThe aurora australis from Cape Schanck, Victoria. Image credit: Martin AuOne of the Expedition 40 crew members aboard the International Space Station recorded this colourful image of Aurora Australis on July 15, 2014. Achernar (just to the right of the centre) is the brightest and most easily recognisable star in this generally southward view. The orbital outpost was flying at an altitude of 225 nautical miles over a nadir point located at 51.6 degrees south latitude and 110.3 degrees east longitude. Two solar array panels are partially visible in an edge-on angle on the right side of the frame. Image credit: NASA“With a bright moon rising (90.7 per cent illumination), the aurora was strong enough to show on the horizon, with faint beams reaching high into the sky. The advantage of moonlight is that it lights up the foreground nicely,” says Sophie. Image credit: Sophie Fazackerley
