Auroroa australis lights up the sky over southern Australia
An alert about a geomagnetic storm might not sound like a good thing, but it's exactly the kind of notification photographers of the southern night sky want to be getting.
These storms are behind a phenomenon called the aurora australis, or the southern lights, which produce a colourful light show.
And that's just what happened in some southern parts of the country last night.
Here are some stunning examples shared to the ABC's Weather Obsessed Facebook page:
These photographers are among many who post their snaps to the Facebook group.
It's a public group where people share pictures and weather updates from around the country — and many other parts of the world.
Lately there's been a lot of snaps of frosts and autumnal leaves, but it is flooded with aurora photos when geomagnetic storms flare up.
It's a phenomenon when the sky in the Southern Hemisphere is lit up by glowing whirls of colour.
"Australis" comes from the Latin word for "southern".
In the Northern Hemisphere, it's the aurora borealis, or the northern lights.
Geomagnetic storms.
They're triggered by something called coronal mass ejections.
"A coronal mass ejection is the literal ejection of material from the Sun out into space," Australian Space Weather Forecasting Centre (ASWFC) forecaster Andrew Jackling said.
This sends charged particles from the Sun towards Earth, causing geomagnetic storms that can disrupt Earth's magnetic field.
"Kind of like in a normal thunderstorm, your shutters on your house would get a bit rattled by the wind and the rain," he said.
In a geomagnetic storm, the disruption can cause atoms of oxygen and nitrogen in the atmosphere to emit bright, colourful light.
And that's what gives us these whirls of colourful lights in the sky.
That depends on how strong the geomagnetic storm is but, generally speaking, it'll be visible in southern parts of the country.
So Tasmania is your best bet.
But you might also be able to catch glimpses of it in southern parts of Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria and, if you're lucky, New South Wales.
The ASWFC, which is part of the Bureau of Meteorology, sends out geomagnetic storm alerts via email.
If you sign up to the ASWFC alerts via this online portal, you'll get an email when there's an alert.
But before you head south, make sure to pay attention to the a G-scale rating to make a judgement about whether it'll be worth your while.
This scale rates global geomagnetic activity, which ranges from G1 (minor) to G5 (extreme).
Alerts will have a G rating, where the higher the rating, the greater the chance of a spectacular light show.
You should also have a squiz at the ASWFC's dedicated Aurora website, which will give you an idea of how severe the geomagnetic storm is.
And keep in mind that local weather and Moon cycles can impact how you see an aurora.
Heavy cloud coverage might block out the glow.
And the light from a full or nearly Moon could make the aurora appear duller — same goes for light pollution from populated areas.
So it's best to find a spot on a beach or hill out of town with a clear view to the south.
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