Latest news with #The_Feefenator
The Citizen
3 days ago
- Climate
- The Citizen
South Africans may witness rare southern lights after solar storm
Parts of South Africa could witness the Aurora Australis, or southern lights, lighting up the sky tonight. Zululand Observer reports that this comes after a coronal mass ejection struck Earth's magnetic field yesterday morning. According to Snow News, this solar impact triggered strong (G3) to severe (G4) geomagnetic storms. The northern lights, or Aurora Borealis, were seen as far south as California and Carolina in the USA, while Australians enjoyed the southern lights spectacle yesterday. Reports indicate conditions are favourable for certain areas in South Africa to catch a glimpse of this rare celestial event. As noted by forecasts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (USA) and the Bureau of Meteorology (Australia) suggest G4-level storms are expected to persist until Wednesday morning, with potential escalation to G5 – the most intense level. While South Africans in the far south are most likely to watch the spectacle, some KZN residents were lucky enough to witness it last year. That display was reportedly due to a 'historic' G5 geomagnetic storm – the most powerful since 2003 – caused by multiple coronal mass ejections from the sun. Aurora Australis dancing over Merimbula Lake in NSW, Australia this evening. — Fiona Brook (@The_Feefenator) June 1, 2025 Wow!!! Some pics from Last nights Aurora Australis in & around Dunedin (My home city) & maybe some other areas. I didn't get to see but it's likely back this evening and maybe tomorrow!! Absolutely stunning!! Check it out @Kyangs_Thang@DunAuroraAlerts hey guys I know you… — Leon Gustave Tenzin wangchuk Sergei Stuart (@GustaveLeon) June 2, 2025 Breaking news at your fingertips… Follow Caxton Network News on Facebook and join our WhatsApp channel. Nuus wat saakmaak. Volg Caxton Netwerk-nuus op Facebook en sluit aan by ons WhatsApp-kanaal. Read original story on At Caxton, we employ humans to generate daily fresh news, not AI intervention. Happy reading!
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Climate
- Yahoo
Bright green meteor zooms past Sydney as auroras dazzle across Australia
A bright green meteor was seen zooming past Sydney on Sunday as spectacular southern lights lit up the skies across most of Australia and New Zealand. A Sydney resident named Tom McCallister posted a video of the meteor, about the size of a basketball, traversing the city's skies. 'Absolutely magnificent meteor seen travelling east to west over Sydney this evening,' Mr McCallister captioned the video posted on Facebook. 'This was looking north at 17:57 local time.' Astrophysicist Brad Tucker, from the Australian National University, agreed that the object was indeed a meteor due to its unique blue-green colour, indicative of iron and nickel content. Anyone else just see a green, long meteor over Canberra? Tried to get a photo but I've only got slow shutter speeds on - out waiting for Aurora Australis instead - but that's a good start to the night! — Nat (@raurkyn) June 1, 2025 People across New Zealand and on Australia's east coast were also treated to a dazzling display of southern lights on Sunday. Many skygazers later shared photos of aurora australis on social media. The space weather phenomenon is caused when bursts of charged particles released from the Sun – known as coronal mass ejections, or CMEs – interact with the Earth's magnetic field, creating what's called a geomagnetic storm. The lights are called aurora australis in the southern hemisphere and aurora borealis in the northern hemisphere. Pictures posted on social media showed the sky glowing in hues of pink, red and green, with slight traces of yellow. The colours come from different molecules in the atmosphere getting charged by the Earth's magnetic field. Oxygen gives off a fluorescent green hue while nitrogen molecules interacting with the magnetic field generate a blue, red or pink shade. Auroras are seen when a strong solar storm from the Sun hits the Earth. They are more clearly visible around polar regions since the magnetic field is the strongest there. Aurora Australis dancing over Merimbula Lake in NSW, Australia this evening. — Fiona Brook (@The_Feefenator) June 1, 2025 Astronomers have predicted a strong geomagnetic storm on Sunday and Monday after a powerful CME was seen erupting from the Sun on Friday. The latest CME also caused aurora borealis across most of the continental US as far down south as Alabama. The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the possibility of a severe geomagnetic storm remained 'in effect'. 'There are indications that the coronal mass ejection passage is weakening, but the solar wind conditions remain elevated, therefore additional periods of G3-G4 levels remain possible,' the NOAA said, using the designations for strong and severe category storms. 'However, we now anticipate that conditions should weaken enough by tomorrow evening, 2 June, that G1 storm levels are the most likely peak response.' The Sun is currently at the peak of its 11-year activity cycle.
