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ABC News
a day ago
- Climate
- ABC News
A peak in the solar cycle means we're getting spectacular aurora australis sightings — for now
We've been treated to some stunning aurora australis light displays over the past few days, but don't expect the glow to last forever. The Sun's 11-year cycle means we're currently in the midst of an explosion of aurora activity. But that'll simmer down soon. It's a phenomenon when the sky in the Southern Hemisphere is lit up by glowing whirls of colour. You'll also hear it referred to as the southern lights. "Australis" comes from the Latin word for "southern". In the Northern Hemisphere, it's called the aurora borealis, or the northern lights. Geomagnetic storms. It's 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 says. 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. "There was a large solar storm on the 31st of May," Australian National University astrophysicist Brad Tucker says. "The storm was large enough to trigger a G4 storm on Earth. "The scale is 1-5, like cyclones, with G5 the largest." Here are some of the latest photos, posted to the ABC's Weather Obsessed Facebook group: While auroras are usually limited to the southernmost parts of the country, there were sightings as far north as Tamworth in New South Wales. And a big part of this is because of where we are in the solar cycle, which goes for roughly 11 years. "The current solar cycle began in 2019, since which time solar activity has generally increased as the Sun progresses toward solar maximum, which officially began in October 2024," Mr Jackling says. And that means spectacular auroras. "During solar maxima, which we are at, the Sun produces more storms, and more extreme storms," Dr Tucker says. "The activity is stronger so it is producing more of these." But it's not just the individual storm from the past few days. We've had some fairly spectacular aurora displays over the past year — check out the ABC's collection of photos from January, October, September and last July. However, the most notable aurora displays happened in May 2024, when a G5 storm hit Earth. It was the biggest geomagnetic storm we'd seen in 20 years, NASA says. While it didn't cause any catastrophic damages, the event was so big it was given a name — Gannon storm — and was the subject of a big NASA study. The solar maximum may continue for another year or two, Mr Jackling says. "By 2027, solar activity is likely to have reduced from present levels, making geomagnetic storms and subsequent auroral displays less likely to occur," he says. However, it's hard to tell exactly how long the aurora boom will last. "Every 11-year period of maximum activity varies in strength," Dr Tucker says. "Just like summers vary in how hot they are, or how wet/cold winters are, same, with the Sun, so some periods are better and others are less. "This has been a good period." No, they could still happen. "Significant space weather can occur at other times in the cycle too," Mr Jackling says. However, aurora australis activity during this time might not be visible as far north as we've been enjoying lately. So aurora chasers may have to travel much further south. "There is still an often low level of activity in the quiet years that you can get, but you need to be very near the south or north pole, which is why people make trips to the Arctic circle to see them," Dr Tucker says. Also, it's important to remember that the solar cycle means we'll come back around to another solar maximum — we'll just have to wait about a decade. Yep. "The northern and southern lights are affected equally so they will reduce as well," Dr Tucker says. However, people in the Northern Hemisphere have a better chance of seeing an aurora. "It is generally easier to see the northern lights than the southern lights due to the geographic distribution of land in the northern hemisphere, where there are more populated areas closer to the northern polar region," Mr Jackling says. "This is true at all times of the solar cycle." 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.
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Climate
- The Guardian
Aurora australis: southern lights dazzle across New Zealand and Australia's east coast
People photograph aurora australis, also known as the southern lights, on the horizon over Lake Ellesmere on the outskirts of Christchurch on 1 June. The displays are produced by a geomagnetic storm, and a product of the sun launching charged particles towards Earth. When those particles interact with Earth's magnetic field they create stunning displays at the poles known as auroras. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images The Milky Way with the aurora australis, also known as the southern lights, over Lake Ellesmere on the outskirts of Christchurch. Photograph: Sanka Vidanagama/AFP/Getty Images A man takes photographs of aurora australis on the horizon over Lake Ellesmere in Lincoln on the outskirts of Christchurch. Photograph: Sanka Vidanagama/AFP/Getty Images The aurora australis over Lake Ellesmere, New Zealand. Photograph: Grant Birley People photograph the aurora australis on the horizon over Lake Ellesmere in Lincoln on the outskirts of Christchurch on 1 June. Photograph: Sanka Vidanagama/AFP/Getty Images The aurora australis seen from Gerringong, in NSW. Photograph: David Metcalf/DJM Images People observe the aurora australis, also known as the southern lights, over Lake Ellesmere on the outskirts of Christchurch. Photograph: Sanka Vidanagama/AFP/Getty Images The aurora australis glows on the horizon over the waters of Lake Ellesmere on the outskirts of Christchurch in New Zealand. Photograph: Sanka Vidanagama/AFP/Getty Images Paul Kerr was able to capture this stunning vista of the aurora australis from Canberra. Photograph: Paul Kerr/Hold Still Photography
The Independent
3 days ago
- Climate
- The Independent
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. 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. 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.
RNZ News
3 days ago
- Climate
- RNZ News
Dazzling aurora scenes delight as strong displays seen from many places
Photographers braved the cold on Sunday night to capture colourful aurora images, with a bright active display visible even from some places in the North Island. Photo: Supplied/ Grant Birley If you missed out on the aurora light show that lit up southern lights on Sunday night, you might have another chance, as night falls on King's Birthday Monday. Aurora Australis, the colourful natural phenomenon also called the southern lights, put on a strong display visible in the night sky across many parts of New Zealand on Sunday night, prompting photographers to set up their tripods during the largely cloudless but cold night, to capture the lights. Astronomer and Otago Museum director, Dr Ian Griffin, told RNZ the spectacular display was unusual as it was seen further north than usual. "Last night's clear skies across the country gave everybody a really good chance to see what I think is one of the greatest shows on earth." "Normally, displays like this you can see most easily from southern New Zealand, but my understanding is a lot of people in the North Island last night got a good show, too," Griffin said. Aurora is the result of material being ejected from the sun toward Earth entering our atmosphere, where it reacts with particles at the Earth's geomagnetic poles. This creates the eerie glowing lights that can be seen in the sky. Aurora fans are hopeful the show might still be visible after dark on King's Birthday Monday, too. Griffin said this latest burst of aurora appeared after a strong explosion on the sun: "It was quite a strong explosion that threw a whole bunch of material towards the earth." "Fingers crossed it might persist until darkness tonight [Monday], and we might get another evening as well." Aurora are best seen using cameras lenses that are more sensitive than our eyes, but sometimes - like last night - are strong enough to be seen with the naked eye too. Griffin advised those hoping to get a glimpse of the lights to go to a dark spot, away from manmade lights and towns, with a good view of the stars. He said New Zealanders were seeing more auroras than normal at the moment. "We're quite a long way from the really active area of the aurora," Griffin said. "And it's only at times near solar maximum that we get these displays like we had last night, when they were overhead." Grant Birley took these photos of the aurora, from Lake Ellesmere, on Sunday night. Photo: Supplied/ Grant Birley And the prospects for King's Birthday Monday were looking hopeful. Forecasters at the US government's Space Weather Prediction Centre [ said that between 3pm and 6pm NZT on Monday global magnetic conditions - referred to as Kp - could reach as high was nearly 8Kp, and could remain above 6Kp until midnight NZT (midday UTC). At levels of 6Kp and above, aurora move much further across the globe than just the North and South Poles where they are more usually confined to, and can "become quite bright and active", the agency said . At 8Kp, that intensifies and even more bright, and more places may be able to see them: "These are the events that create the best aurora and the extended auroral oval will be observable by the most people," they said. Conditions are promising for auroras for the next six to 12 months, Dr Griffin said, because the sun's magnetic activity is in the most active phase of its 11-year cycle. A group with a bonfire are captured at Wainuiomata coast, on Sunday night, in front of the aurora. Photo: Supplied/ Dan Bailey Winter offers advantages for aurora spotters because the night is dark for longer. But New Zealand has a good geographic position when it comes to aurora spotting, and it gives us good opportunities through the rest of the year too, Griffin said. "One of the coolest thing about New Zealand is it's pretty much the only place in the world where you can watch an aurora in the middle of summer, wearing shorts and jandals." Australia & New Zealand are getting some nice aurora right now, here's the view from Queenstown, NZ! We are currently at G2 storm level (we did hit Hp30=8 earlier). Solar wind speed is currently very high (900+ km/s), but Bt and Bz are not very favourable. We are still in the… On Sunday night some Australian aurora fans also got a glimpse of the lights, which are rarely spotted across the ditch. ABC reported spotters as far north as Tamworth north of Sydney, in New South Wales had seen the lights. Photographers usually use special astrophotography settings on their cameras to capture aurora, but Sunday's display was also visible to the naked eye, and would have looked closer to this. Photo: Supplied/ Dan Bailey Cressida Toorenburg told the ABC she had seen the natural light show from East Devonport, in Tasmania, after the clouds cleared away. "We sat for half an hour in the hope that the clouds would move away and then wow," she said. "There was Lady Aurora! It was breathtaking - you could see her with the naked eye, but much bigger and brighter through the screen on my phone." Toorenburg said she has lived in the area for seven years and never seen an aurora as dazzling. "The colours were so beautiful and vibrant," she said. From Lake Ellesmere on Sunday. Photo: Supplied/ Grant Birley - RNZ/ ABC Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
ABC News
6 days ago
- Climate
- ABC News
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.
