Aurora Australis dazzles over South Island skies

12:38 am on 5 November 2021

A magnificent Aurora Australis shined over New Zealand's night sky on Thursday.

Otago Museum director Ian Griffin, who is a keen aurora chaser, told Karyn Hay there was a fabulous display of the Southern Lights over Hoopers Inlet in Dunedin Harbour.

iPhone aurora picture pic.twitter.com/43vbDhnRLt
— Ian Griffin (@iangriffin) November 4, 2021

"We've had beams, we've had, on the camera at least, lots of different colours, purples and green. The sky has been full of rays, so it's been pretty spectacular."

It had filled the entire sky in Dunedin, he said, and it would probably have been visible for most of the South Island.

If skies were clear for the lower North Island, then it may have been visible there too, he said.

Watch the Aurora Australis dance around on our time lapse camera in Lauder, Central Otago!

This is the result of electrons colliding with the upper reaches of Earth’s atmosphere pic.twitter.com/ENVY1JmJ4Y
— NIWA Weather (@NiwaWeather) November 4, 2021

Aurora australis at 44° south (New Zealand) Straight from camera right now @TamithaSkov pic.twitter.com/mG2wYbQ3CR
— Jonny Harrison (@JonnyHarrisonNZ) November 4, 2021

My first Aurora Australis… and it was epic!

Shot from my iPhone & you could see it dancing with the naked eye - but the camera images #aurora #auroraaustralis #newzealand #invercargill pic.twitter.com/wCJwMHm59c
— Anna Cochrane (@Anna_Cochrane) November 4, 2021

The various colours are caused by atoms in the atmosphere glowing at different altitudes, he said.

"There was a tremendous explosion on the Sun a few days ago and that raced across the Solar System and it hit the Earth's magnetic field today ... and auroras have been seen all over the world [today], all the way from Scotland right down to southern New Zealand."

Griffin had four or five cameras to capture the sight, which will be used for a show at Otago Museum.

"I've been trying to take as many aurora pictures as possible and make some little movies."