I've finally gotten around to posting a blog about the Aurora Australis we had on the 1st of June this year.

I've included my camera set up and settings, and also didn't do any post-processing on my photos so you can see what comes out of the back of the camera.

#blog #blogging #astrophotography #aurora #auroraaustralis

https://www.craftygardener.co.nz/?post_id=148&title=1st-of-june-2025-aurora-australis

Aurora Alert: this is crazy...

#aurora #AuroraBorealis #AuroraAustralis
#spaceweather

A photograph of Sunday night's aurora from our backyard. It was about 7.15 pm.

Unfortunately our neighbour's security lights were shining, so the foreground is washed out because of it.

You can see the beams, and also it was the first time seeing a huge band of green above the main aurora. Usually if there is one it's red, but this time it was green.

Aurora Australis from Royal National Park! This is AMAZING.

The big solar storm that is passing us this week, triggered nu a coronal mass ejection from the Sun has produced a class G4 / G5 geomagnetic storm.

Our magnetosphere deflects most of the particles from Sun away, but near the poles, some spiral down and excite our atmosphere - producing aurora.

This storm was powerful enough to generate aurora sightings as far north as Coonabarabran and the Siding Spring Observatory. That's around 340 km NW of Sydney (closer to the equator, at 31 degrees south!)

While city lights drowned out the view for many, those under darker skies were treated to an extraordinary show. This stunning timelapse footage, captured by my friend Filippo Rivetti from Royal National Park south of Sydney, offers a glimpse of the awe-inspiring beauty and planetary-scale force of this event.

A reminder of the vast, dynamic forces at play: a star lashing out across space, and a planet, our home planet with its protective magnetic shield - hosting the only life we know of so far in the Universe, safely within.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXP49hxf9ck

Being away from home on the night that the #aurora kicked off I just had to make the best of the situation. It's a hard life, it was a fluke that I had the good old 24mm Rokinon f1.4 in my bag. #stormhour #purenz #Astrophotography #auroraaustralis #Queenstown

Last night near the vic/SA border

Please feel free to share your Aurora pics, because I could never have too many. #auroraBorealis #auroraAustralis

Some more photos from last night. Watching this stream on youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvWwlJAaRFM meant that I could avoid the cold as much as possible, and shoot out for some quick photos when it looked like there was some action.

The photos are taken by hand from a phone that has been vigorously handled and smudged by a toddler, so are not the best quality.

Aurora Storm prediction is huge tonight. Hope some folks in NZ and Tassie are in position for it :)

Time right now is roughly 11:20UTC.

"Severe geomagnetic storm watch for June 1-2" by NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center - G3 to G4 level solar storm means expected Kp=7 to 8 aurora. In the US aurora could be visible as far south as Northern California or Alabama. Watch the night skies in case it arrives while your skies are dark. https://www.spaceweather.gov/news/upgrade-g4-watch-1-2-june #SpaceWeather #aurora #AuroraBorealis #AuroraAustralis #astronomy