aurora australis

[astronomia]

g'day forum :)

i want to see the aurora australis. where and when has the greastest change of success ?

is there a database of sightings with latitude and what is the limit on latitude? i am sure i have seen it at LAT 33° 22' 54.00" S (not sydney but central nsw)

ps IiS seems a great forum :thumbsup:

[iceman]

Hi there and :welcome: to IIS!

I don't think there's much chance of seeing any as far north as Sydney, but I have heard of people in Victoria/Melbourne seeing them.

Ideally you want to be in Tasmania or New Zealand!

[fringe_dweller]

astronomia, go north young man/woman! Alaska, Norway, Finland Finland Finland :D

for local aussie southern database, Peter Skilton has done an amazing job collating the last 30 plus years of local sightings in pics, you'll have to join tho.

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/southern-aurora/

In extreme solar max's, aurora australis has be seen as far north as Singapore! thats extremely rare of course, from Adelaide we see plenty at solar max. routinely in fact, as the geographic lat. and long. are not relevant to Aurora, as they are governed by geomagnetic grid, lat. long.
and that is tilted at such an angle at present that Adelaide is at geomagnetic latitude 42 or 38 south? hmmm cant remember off hand, but at 35 south as far as the normal globe is concerned, actually WA is even well favoured.

[astroron]

I observed an aroura in Brisbane in 1989.
I thought it was a fire reflecting on the sky,untill the next morning when I was informed otherwise.

[IanL]

Where to see the aurora, NZ would be best this side of the world I would say but i could be wrong. But it all depends on the storm and which way the magnetosphere points on impact of the storm. I have seen strong X3 CME's comming towards Earth and because the magnetoshere went the wrong way it was no good. Fairbanks Alaska is the best in the N hemiphere. I used to photograph the aurora from Glasgow Scotland and people thought you had to be way high up north to see it.

On April the 6th 2000 Earth took a impact from a solar storm and it was seen as far south as the tip of Africa, Now that something. So conditions plays lot as well. Its something i would like to see this side of the world and i would head for NZ.

I have attached a motage of aurora photos that i took form Glasgow, Scotland

[fringe_dweller]

hey Ron, that must of been some show in '89.
last solar max, as I am informed, was a weaker type one! omg if that was a weak one, cant wait to follow a doosey like the one they had early 80's or in the 50's and other times through history. yikes!

I used to go out all night on my own to the sticks thru last solar max, if one looked likely. Best one I saw, i saw on my own coming home from dark sites, near dawn and on the 12th? april 2001 (didnt keep notes back then) and saw entire sky flashing bright red all the way north of Adelaide. so must of been seen far north, specially in WA, as they still had darkness, as other parts of show went into the bright dawn sky/daylight sky.
but i am still the only southerner i know of that saw and reported it.

[fringe_dweller]

nice pics Ian, dont expect to see many coronas like those in you're lovely shots, from here LOL
altho tassie an NZ, are much better located, and southern victoria too really.
They tend to get lots more cloud/weather/rain, like scotland ;) ,then here, and they miss,, i reckon roughly/guesstimating, about half of all the good shows? but of course when they do get them in clear skies, they are like what you have seen yourself.

[Blue Skies]

How to see an aurora in Australia - wait. And wait. In fact you will need to acquire a lot of patience right now with the sun at minimum activity. Until the sunspots return in good number and start cranking out flares it is unlikely we are going to see anything for a while.

While you are waiting, learn a bit more about what actually causes them and where to find the info on when to expect one. I highly recommend making Spaceweather (http://www.spaceweather.com) part of your daily online reading.

And if you can't wait - head north, like the others have suggested. ;) Oh, and the equinoxes are considered the best time of all during the year to see them, although no one yet knows why.

[astronomia]

Thankyou iceman, fringe_dweller, astroron, Ian Law and Blue Skies for your informative replies.

It must of been 1989 (it was around that time from memory) when I saw the aurora in central nsw. All I remember is that it was red, red and red.

I'll keep the equinoxes tip in mind Blue Skies, when i plan the trip to Tassie in more detail as the next solar max approaches

ps I can not veiw Ian's attachements, is that becuase I am new ?

[iceman]

You should be able to view the attachment - what happens when you click it?

It must be being blocked by a popup blocker or firewall.

[astronomia]

hey iceman

there is a title "Attached Thumbnails" and an empty box where i would expect to see a thumbnail...

anyway, it must be my pc. i'll check my firewalls etc

:thumbsup:

[iceman]

ah ok, well then yes it's definitely your firewall or javascript blocker etc.

Add iceinspace.com.au to your whitelists.