PHOTO: Donna Burton gets a glimpse of the Aurora Australis during a star gazing show in May.
If you point your camera at the night sky in the coming months you might catch a glimpse of the Aurora Australis, otherwise known as the southern lights.
Coonabarabran-based Donna Burton, known as Donna the Astronomer, said seeing southern lights as far north as Queensland is a phenomenon that only occurs once every hundred-odd years and usually lasts a few months.
She caught a glimpse of the southern lights back in May while holding a stargazing show.
Last weekend, 12 & 13 October, was also a good time to spot the light displays.
“This is probably the first time it happened since the Carrington Event in 1859,” Ms Burton said.
The Carrington Event was an intense geomagnetic storm that caused auroral displays across the globe.
The Aurora Australis is however not visible to the naked eye. Only a camera lens can pick up on the changes in the dark sky.
The human eye is not equipped to absorb light well enough.
The Aurora Australis looks like an unusual red brightness in an otherwise dark sky.
“You can tell if you’re looking at the southern sky and it looks wrong. Like a light in the sky where there shouldn’t be,” Ms Burton said.
In comparison to the Aurora Borealis, or northern lights which have a blue, green tint to them, the southern lights are more brown and red due to the atmosphere.
The northern lights are currently also visible far more south than usual, with sightings going as far as Arizona.
It is caused by a geomagnetic storm when solar wind collides with the Earth’s magnetic field causing the field to bend.
When this occurs charged particles enter the atmosphere and emit light which then creates the lights that are visible from the Earth’s surface.
The heightened activity is expected to last another 12 months.
Although pretty to look at, the Aurora Australis can cause disturbances.
“It causes a lot of upset with high-frequency radios, and small planes, and the electricity can be taken out,” Ms Burton said.
If a geomagnetic storm as large as the Carrington Event were to happen today it could cost the global economy between $1 trillion to $2 trillion.
For those hoping to see the Aurora Australis, Donna says “The key is for people to look south and find the Southern Cross,” Ms Burton said.
So pull out your binoculars and telescopes and see if you can spot this rare astronomical phenomenon.