Aurora Australis

UK1 (Rob) · #1 10-08-2009, 09:29 AM

I'm going to Tasmania for a holiday in October ( Wahoooooo ) Hobart.
I have been told that you can see the Aurora Australis from Tasmania ?
if so where is a good seeing place if there is any activity...
also is there any dark sky areas around Hobart that maybe worth a look ?
Rob
thanks

Blue Skies (Jacquie) · #2 10-08-2009, 09:53 AM

I wouldn't get excited, unfortunately - with the sun experiencing its quietest activity in a hundred years no on is seeing anything at the moment. We usually only see them up in Australia after a solar flare or a Coronal Mass Ejection has thrown some energy out. None of that happening at the moment. But in a solar active year Tasmania is one of the better places to be. You still need to check on solar activity, you don't get aurora every night. If you want sure fire action you need to book a trip to Alaska or northern Canada.

UK1 (Rob) · #3 10-08-2009, 10:03 AM

Thanks for the reply ...love to book a trip to north America or Norway

but with Mr Rudds $50 a week disabilty pension that i get... be along time saving
Thanks again

IanT · #4 10-08-2009, 10:07 AM

My experience of Aurora in Tasmania is that you see them when you least expect them. Winter is the best time to look and anywhere outside of Hobart and its suburbs will have dark skies, assuming that the darkness is not a function of clouds. If you go into the mountains you may have more than usual problems with clouds and rain. Many times I have been bushwalking in Tasmania, to be alerted late at night by a vague feeling of somethings not quite right. Sleep befuddled thoughts usually think that a vague lightness through the tent door must be a well developed moon or even dawn. Minutes later, I peer out and a greenish light in the southern sky tells the story. Sort of spooky actually. Anywhere on the East coast of the state will probably give you the best weather as long as the weather isn't coming from the East. For example, it would be easily possible to find a little coastal reserve just an hour or so out of Hobart, with good dark skies and proximity to camping area or a B&B for the night. By the way, it has been quite wet and cloudy in Tassie for a couple of months now.
Ian

JethroB76 (Jeff) · #5 10-08-2009, 10:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IanT

By the way, it has been quite wet and cloudy in Tassie for a couple of months now.
Ian

Sure has!

mac (Matt) · #6 11-08-2009, 10:12 AM

My first aurora experience was in my back yard in Auckland, NZ. I think I was only about 12 years old but was astronomy obsessed at the time, so I knew exactly what I was looking at. And sure enough, the aurora got a mention on the news later that night. It was a reddish 'sheet' that appeared to be stationary in the sky.

Then a few years ago I spent a week dog sledding in the Arctic Circle (Finland), and nearly every night there was a dramatic show of lights put on. Apparently they get auroras more than 200 days per year in that part of the world. The ones I saw were green, and appeared stationary, except on the final night when they literally danced across the sky at a frantic pace. I'll never forget that.

BLiTZWiNG (Trent) · #7 14-08-2009, 05:16 PM

I saw it from near Phillip Island about 20 or so (maybe more) years ago. At the time I thought it was the aurora though I wasn't sure at the time, but the site of a big green curtain in the sky was pretty awesome.

It's one the many things I will miss having moved to QLD, not least of which is shopping centres that are open after 5pm and Woolworths and IGA's that are open past 7pm.

Esseth (Alan) · #8 14-08-2009, 05:44 PM

HAHAHA, me too Blitz, i just moved up to Brisbane from Melbourne a few months ago. i was like WTF woolworths is closed at 7????? that and the one way streets all around the CBD.

I plan on heading down to tassie in a year or two for a holiday when the solar activity starts picking up. Id love to see it.

seanliddelow (Sean) · #9 20-08-2009, 09:40 PM

Tasmanias the best place in aus to see it but im hoping for a major solar flare that would make it visble from 30 degrees south.

seanliddelow (Sean) · #10 20-08-2009, 09:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IanT

My experience of Aurora in Tasmania is that you see them when you least expect them. Winter is the best time to look and anywhere outside of Hobart and its suburbs will have dark skies, assuming that the darkness is not a function of clouds. If you go into the mountains you may have more than usual problems with clouds and rain. Many times I have been bushwalking in Tasmania, to be alerted late at night by a vague feeling of somethings not quite right. Sleep befuddled thoughts usually think that a vague lightness through the tent door must be a well developed moon or even dawn. Minutes later, I peer out and a greenish light in the southern sky tells the story. Sort of spooky actually. Anywhere on the East coast of the state will probably give you the best weather as long as the weather isn't coming from the East. For example, it would be easily possible to find a little coastal reserve just an hour or so out of Hobart, with good dark skies and proximity to camping area or a B&B for the night. By the way, it has been quite wet and cloudy in Tassie for a couple of months now.
Ian

Does this occur on solarmax?

IanT · #11 21-08-2009, 09:21 AM

Yes. Solar max is the best time but don't discount the years leading up to and those following. I have never planned to see an aurora and succeeded. Mostly, it has been serendipitous. However, a careful evaluation of sunspot activity on a week to week basis would surely increase your chances.
Ian

seanliddelow (Sean) · #12 21-08-2009, 07:56 PM

For some reason or another space weather has reported unusaly high levels of auroras for solar min.