Friday night’s Aurora Australis was the most dramatic display since May, and the most impressive in 15 years before that.
The life of an aurora chaser is not an easy one. Specific solar and atmospheric conditions need to align perfectly for them to indulge their passion fully.
“I’m lost for words,” said professional photographer Marc Ilicic, who had visited Tasmania earlier in the week to capture the event, but still managed to witness its greatest iteration from back home on the Gold Coast. Auroras can typically only be seen in the very far north and south of our planet. But a recent period of extreme solar activity has meant so many charged particles are striking out of our atmosphere that the colourful shows have been seen much further north.
They strike and excite electrons in the atoms of oxygen and nitrogen in the atmosphere. As the atoms release that energy, they glow red and green, which creates the night show of the Aurora.The last spectacular display occurred on May 11, although Sydney missed out due to cloud cover, and the biggest one before that was 15 years ago., said the best places to observe the phenomenon had little light pollution and a clear view of the southern horizon.
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