Aurora australis stuns Australian stargazers – and you can still watch it

Stargazers in southern Australia were treated to an awe-inspiring display of aurora australis on Saturday. But if you missed it, don’t worry – there’s another chance the skies will light up tonight.

Stunning pink and green hues were seen dancing in the sky across Tasmania, outback Western Australia, and along coastal regions of Victoria and South Australia once night fell. The southern lights are usually only visible in Tasmania or Victoria’s far south.

The southern lights were even visible in the cities of Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth, although light pollution made the aurora less vibrant. Heavy cloud and rainfall hampered views across Sydney and Canberra.

Aurora hunters will have another chance to spy the dazzling display on Sunday night, according to the Bureau of Meteorology, with an “intense” geomagnetic storm forecast until Monday morning.

“Australia was treated to an amazing light show last night, thanks to the strongest geomagnetic storm in over 20 years,” the bureau said on Facebook.

“Bright auroras were visible across most of southern Australia, and as far north as the Pilbara region of WA.

“If you’re heading out to catch an aurora you’ll need cloud-free skies, ideally well away from city lights.”

The southern lights are usually most commonly sighted between 10pm and 2am, although it is difficult to predict exactly when they will be visible.

Both aurora australis and aurora borealis have made appearances across the globe in recent days due to the sun ejecting multiple “blobs” of material from its surface into space.

Interactions with Earth’s upper atmosphere can cause geomagnetic storms.

Professor Andrew Cole, who teaches physics at the University of Tasmania, told this masthead that the sun was at its most active phase in a decade, meaning more chances to spy the southern lights may emerge later this year.

“You can never actually say the moment at which the aurora is going to stop and start, but it’s more likely [to happen] now than it has been in quite some time,” he said.

“It could maintain its activity for the rest of this year ... this is a roughly a ‘once every couple of decades’ kind of event.”

The Bureau of Meteorology on Saturday said the geomagnetic storm would reach a G5 extreme level event over the weekend – the highest measure on the scale that tracks fluctuations in Earth’s magnetic field.

The last time Earth experienced a G5-level storm was in 2003.

There were concerns the disturbance could cause power outages and affect communication and navigation satellites, which rely on high-frequency radio waves.

The weather bureau said it was monitoring the situation and would provide updates if any significant changes arose.

“The warning issued for this event informs government and critical infrastructure operators so they can take action to mitigate potential impacts on infrastructure assets and essential services,” a spokesperson said.

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