Hi Edelweiss, the main thing to watch while there will be the weather. The other factors are as good as it gets in the southern Hemisphere without mounting a major expedition.
Quote:
Originally Posted by OzEclipse
Even Invercagill is only 46 deg south. Less than the latitude of London and 25 degrees north of 70 deg south.
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Geomagnetic latitude (the one that really matters) of southern NZ is comparable to Scotland or southern Scandinavia. Check out pics on spaceweather.com & elsewhere & compare pics from Scotland and from NZ and you'll see what I mean.
This is what a Kp3 looks like photographically, from Dunedin (taken 30 October 2013). Anything from Kp5 and up is worthwhile watching visually
if you have a dark, clear sky and haven't seen many Aurorae and find travelling to 70°S a bit of an inconvenience (not to mention a waste of time in Nov. if you want to see the Southern Lights)
Kp7 and up, things get funky.
Kp9 you stand underneath them.
Caveats:
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Bz should be pointing south
- equinox time is best, as Joe says
Quote:
Originally Posted by OzEclipse
Invercagill only has about 5 hrs of astronomical twilight by early December.
Joe
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True, but it still gets proper darkness at midnight even at summer solstice with Sun 20.5° below horizon. Astro twilight starts at 18°.
See what the Aurora is doing in Dunners.
There is no guarantee for anything obviously. Mid latitude Auroras reward those who hang around.