Over the next few years you get a unique chance to see a spectacular light display of Aurora Australis (southern lights). Welcome to Southern Tasmania for this fantastic show!
Aurora Australis in Tasmania
Solar activity reaches a peak of a twelve-year cycle, so the number of the auroras grows.
It gives a good chance to see Aurora Australis yourself!
All you need is to visit Tasmania and just be outside your house in the right hour!
Over the next two to three years auroras are expected to entertain us once a month.
How do auroras occur? Charged particles enter the Earth’s upper atmosphere sparking the light show approximately 100 kilometres above the surface.
The Aurora Australis is centred on the Earth’s South Magnetic Pole. (The South Magnetic Pole is not a fixed point as the Geographic South Pole.)
Tasmania is the home of the Australian aurora, according to Dr Phil Wilkinson from the Ionospheric Prediction Service that deals with “space weather”.
Hobart in Tasmania is uniquely placed in relation to magnetic south, so it becomes an unbeatable place to see Aurora Australis.
Aurora Australis in Antarctica
Aurora Australis time-lapse movie taken at Davis base Antarctica July 14-15, 2012.
(The green line is the Australian LIDAR experiment.)
Watch How Beautiful the Space Is
I can’t help not to share this. It is just too stunning!
Two nights in astronomer’s heaven – Roque de los Muchachos observatory on La Palma, Canary Islands.
The video features two largest telescopes on the planet – 10.4m GranTreCan and 17m MAGIC.
Do you like Aurora Australis? Would you like to visit Tasmania to see it?
(Or do you prefer to visit Tasmania just because it’s a beautiful place ;-), with its King Island for example?)Have you seen anything like that before? Share your story
Photos by: NASA Goddard Photo and Video, A. Sparrow
