Advertisement

Magical southern lights enthrall stargazers

Magical southern lights enthrall stargazers

New Zealand and Australia were treated to an incredible natural light show on Tuesday night when the aurora australis – or southern lights – lit up the sky.

Pictures capturing the event, the southern hemisphere’s version of the northern lights, were taken across New Zealand's South Island, including Wanaka and the Otago Peninsula, and also in Perth, Tasmania and New South Wales.


Ian Griffin, a photographer from Dunedin, created this stunning timelapse of the dancing purple, green and pink lights.

He tweeted: "Went to bed early last night? You missed one heck of a lightshow!"

Photographer Paul Le Comte snapped the spectacular purple and green lights dance in the skies over the Otago peninsula.

He said it had been the best display in a decade.

Just before 3am on Wednesday he tweeted: “If you are insane like me, get out to dark skies.

"Monster bright green rays everywhere I don't know where to look Dunedin."

Four hours later he said: “Wow, just wow. First all nighter in years and totally worth it, till the rain sent me packing at 6am.”

According to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, the phenomena is caused when electrically charged electrons and protons accelerate down the Earth's magnetic field lines and collide with neutral atoms in the upper atmosphere — usually about 100 kilometres above the Earth.

Liz Carlson, an American living in Wanaka, tweeted this picture at 1am.