Southern Lights may be back in a month
For those kicking themselves for missing the Southern Lights display at the weekend – better luck next time.
The Southern Lights, or Aurora Australis, were spotted from Auckland, Canterbury and the Otago Peninsula on Saturday. They were then visible from Wellington on Sunday, and were again spied in the sky over Canterbury.
Otago Museum director Dr Ian Griffin said people south of Christchurch might get another glimpse last night, but those further north will have to wait a bit longer.
Griffin, the former head of public outreach at Nasa’s Space Telescope Science Institute, captured photos of the aurora from Cape Saunders on the Otago Peninsula, on Saturday.
He said the rainbow colours were a ‘‘truly gorgeous display’’.
He said the phenomena was caused by a geomagnetic storm – the result of a large hold in the sun’s surface. The storm had peaked, and was entering the ‘‘tail off’’ period.
‘‘If you’re south of Christchurch there’s a fair chance you might see something, but you have to get away from the city, away from street lights, and look south.
‘‘And give your eyes a change to adapt to the darkness.’’
It was unusual for the lights to be seen as far north as Auckland, he said.
‘‘Normally you would expect to see that once every five years or so. This coronal hole is quite powerful.
‘‘The sun rotates roughly every 25 to 28 days, so hopefully in another month or so we’ll see it again.’’
The display was hard to predict, he said, because the hole can change size.
‘‘Chances are, if it persists, you’ll see it again next month.’’
Griffin said Saturday night’s display was particularly impressive because of a phenomenon known as coronal mass ejection.
‘‘The sun basically blasts off some material and it struck the earth, or it impacted the earth’s magnetic field, and that’s what gave life to [Saturday’s] beautiful aurora and, certainly, it was pretty stunning. Some of the popular spots down here were really full of people,’’ Griffin said.
In the northern hemisphere, displays of the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) were expected to be visible as far south as New York, Washington and Wisconsin over the same period.